I Don't Know Who I Am
by TimeLordPrime
Summary: Clara Oswald was left feeling weak and confused after jumping into the Doctor's timestream on Trenzalore in The Name of the Doctor. Now as she tries to recover from that horrifying experience she starts to hear a voice calling out to her. A voice that seems to be coming from a fob watch that she's never seen before. Clara Oswald is about to learn who she truly is at last. ONGOING!
1. Clara or Alura?

I DON'T KNOW WHO I AM

I do not own Doctor Who or Star Wars and I am not making any profit off of this.

**This story takes place not long after The Name of the Doctor.**

**I got the idea for this story from ImpossibleClara9 who wondered why no one had done a story where Clara had a fob watch so I thought I'd do one. Here's the result. I hope you'll like it. **

Clara woke up from a deep sleep on the couch to find herself looking up into the concerned face of Angie Maitland of all people. Apparently Angie had shaken her awake.

"Clara? Are you alright? You just drifted off to sleep right in the middle of the day. You've never done that before," Angie said in a slightly frightened voice.

Clara smiled as she realized that despite her sometimes rude treatment of her that Angie actually did care about her in her own way. She quickly got up off the couch and put a reassuring arm around Angie's shoulders.

"I'm fine. I'm still just a bit tired after everything that I went through saving the Doctor all throughout his timestream. That's all. The Doctor said that it might take me a while to fully recover," Clara said with a reassuring grin.

She had told both of the children what had happened right after she had returned from Trenzalore. She knew that they deserved some explanation for the sluggishness that the Doctor told her that she was going to experience for a while until her body fully returned to normal.

"I still don't quite understand all of that, but I get the gist of it. You almost got yourself killed saving the Doctor. I really think that you should reconsider traveling with him for your own good," Angie said in a worried voice.

"You're worried about Clara," Artie said with a grin as he suddenly appeared out of the kitchen with a huge sandwich in his hand.

"I am not. I'm just trying to give her some helpful advice. That's all," Angie said.

"You're worried about her because you love her. Admit it. You care about Clara," Artie said.

"Shut up! I just don't want anything to happen to her!" Angie shouted back in anger and then quickly clamped her hand over her mouth.

"Ha! You do care about her!" Artie said in triumph.

Angie looked mortified as Clara smiled at her and said, "It's okay, Angie. I won't tell anyone if you don't."

Angie smiled at her briefly for understanding.

"I will," Artie said gleefully.

"You won't if you want to continue breathing," Angie threatened as she made a fist.

"No threatening your brother, Angie," Clara admonished.

"Why not?" Angie protested in a way that let Clara know that she was going to obey her but still felt like complaining about it.

"You know why not. Just behave while I sit down a minute," Clara said as she began to feel strange again.

"Are you alright?" Angie asked as she and Artie had to help a weakened Clara sit back down on the couch.

"I think so. The Doctor said that this would be happening to me for a while. He said it was perfectly normal. He could be lying of course. He does that," Clara said with a slight grin.

"Fine boyfriend you've got there," Angie said grunting disdainfully.

"He's not my boyfriend," Clara protested.

"Maybe not yet but I bet he soon will be," Artie said laughing.

"Stop that," Clara said briefly smiling before clutching her head as she felt woozy again.

"Clara?" Artie asked in fear.

"I'm fine. I'm going to be alright, Artie," Clara said as she smiled at him.

"No, you're not. You're not acting right. Is there any way for us to contact the Doctor? Didn't he leave you a number or something?" Angie asked.

"Yeah, there's the number I first called him at. It rings the TARDIS directly. It's programmed into my phone," Clara said.

"I'm going to call him right now," Angie said in a furious voice.

"No, I'm going to call him. If you do it, you'll just scream at him because you're so worried about Clara," Artie said as he went to find the phone.

After Artie left, that was when Angie noticed that Clara was holding something shiny and silver in her hand. She blinked when she realized that it was a fob watch.

Why would Clara have one of those for? It wasn't exactly her style.

"Clara, why are you holding a fob watch for? Is it the Doctor's? It looks like it might go on that watch chain of his," Angie asked.

Clara looked at her oddly as she said, "What are you talking about? I don't have a fob watch."

"Yes, you do. It's right there in your hand. You're holding it," Angie said as she began to worry about Clara even more now.

Clara looked down at her hand in shock as she saw that Angie was right. She was holding a fob watch. Where had that come from? She couldn't remember having it before.

"I don't know whose this is, but it's not mine," Clara said as she carefully examined it.

"Maybe it has a name engraved on the inside. Open it and see," Angie said still thinking that it must be the Doctor's (and being just a bit curious to know his real name).

Clara tried to open it but she couldn't. She tried again and again, but it wouldn't budge.

"It won't open. Not that it matters. It's broken anyway," Clara said.

Angie looked at her in surprise as she said, "I thought you said that it wasn't yours."

"It isn't," Clara said.

"How do you know that it's broken then? Did the Doctor tell you?" Angie asked.

Clara looked at her in incomprehension for a moment until she realized that Angie was right so she said, "I don't know how I know that. I just do. Maybe this is the Doctor's, and he told me about it. He could have left it with me for some reason, and I forgot about it. That must be it, right?"

"Of course. That has to be it," Angie agreed uneasily.

"I swear I'm fine," Clara said upon seeing the looks of concern that Angie kept giving her.

Then Clara stiffened as she heard a voice coming from the watch and calling her name. She looked at it in horror as she realized that the voice sounded just like hers.

"Clara, what is it?" Angie asked in a near panic now.

"You don't hear that voice? It's a voice coming from the watch," Clara said.

"No, I don't hear anything. Clara, please don't be going mad," Angie almost whispered.

Clara smiled at her and lightly brushed her fingers across the top of her head as she said, "I'm alright, Angie. I'm not mad I promise. Even if I am, I'm sure it's the good kind of mad like the Doctor."

"That makes me feel so much better," Angie said in a frightened voice.

Clara hugged her gently as she said, "I'm fine. It must just be some side effect of Trenzalore. It'll go away eventually."

Then she heard the voice from the watch calling her once again only this time it was telling her to open the watch. She looked at it hesitantly and was filled with fear now because she wasn't sure that she wanted to open it. Something inside of her was telling her that that might not be such a good idea.

"Clara, are you going to open the watch?" Angie asked as she saw her staring at it intently.

"I don't know. The voice keeps telling me that I need to but I don't want to. I'm afraid to," Clara admitted.

"Don't then. You don't have to open it. Maybe you shouldn't. Maybe it's some kind of alien trick, and it's going to take over your mind if you do. Here. Let me have it," Angie said.

"No!" Clara shouted as Angie tried to take it from her and scaring the girl.

"I'm sorry. I don't know why I did that. I just know that I can't let anyone have the watch. There's something very important about it. I have to keep it safe," Clara said.

"Of course you do. Where are you, Artie?" Angie said as she looked around for her missing brother with barely concealed panic in her voice.

"Are you okay? I know I overreacted about the watch. I'm sorry," Clara said.

"Yeah. I'm fine," Angie lied.

Then Clara heard the voice telling her to open the watch again. She was suddenly terrified. What if the watch was something alien, and it had made her scream at Angie that way because she was trying to stop it? What if she opened the watch and something took her over and made her hurt Angie? She couldn't take that chance.

She started to put the watch in one of her pockets until the Doctor came when the voice said, "I wouldn't hurt Angie any more than you would. I am you after all more or less."

"What?" Clara said out loud as Angie tried very hard not to freak out at the sight of Clara openly talking to the watch now.

"I said that I am you. That's why I sound like you. I'm your true self, Clara. The real you," The voice said.

"What do you mean you're the real me?" Clara asked in complete confusion.

"Clara, put the watch down! Now!" Angie shouted in a complete panic now.

Clara nodded and started to do so when the voice said, "You're not really human. You're a Time Lord just like the Doctor."

That stopped Clara right in her tracks as she said, "I'm listening."

"Clara, no!" Angie said in despair.

Then Angie's heart stopped as Clara opened the watch and was covered in a golden light from head to toe. As soon as the light faded, Clara looked at Angie with a huge grin on her face and hugged her tightly.

"I know who I am now, Angie. I finally know. Well, I guess I always knew who I was in a way, but I didn't know the whole story. It's like . . . It's like being conked on the head and having amnesia for years and then finally remembering out of the blue one day that you're really been someone else your entire life. Am I babbling? I'm babbling, aren't I? Oh, great. That's just wonderful. Not even a Time Lady again for five seconds, and I'm already becoming as bad as he is," Clara said in an excited voice.

Angie pulled away from Clara with fear in her eyes and screamed. Clara immediately felt awful because she knew that Angie didn't understand. She had to try to convince her that everything was alright somehow.

"It's okay. It's still me. I'm still Clara. I'm going to keep that name by the way. I like it and it suits me. I never liked any of my other names anyway. Time Lords have more than one name you know. Sorry. I'm babbling again aren't I?" Clara asked.

"Please just stay away," Angie said as she slowly started moving toward the front door.

"I'd never hurt you, Angie. I consider you a part of my family," Clara said in the gentlest voice that she could manage.

Angie hesitated then and looked deeply into Clara's eyes as she studied them intensely for a moment.

"Clara?" Angie asked.

Clara smiled as she said, "It's still me. I promise."

That was when the Doctor suddenly appeared out of nowhere screaming, "Clara, stop! Don't open that watch! You'll be erased forever if you do!"

Clara rolled her eyes as she said, "Thanks, Doctor, but you're just a little bit too late for that."

The Doctor stared at Clara intently as if he was suddenly seeing her with new eyes now. In a way he was because she was different now in some ways, and yet she was somehow still his Clara in others. She was a combination of two women now, and he loved them both. He always had.

"So how much of you is still Clara?" the Doctor asked almost fearing the answer.

Clara put a comforting arm around Angie who was now hesitantly moving closer to her as she said with a huge smile, "I'm pretty much all Clara. I say when you have a good thing why spoil it, eh? I'm not changing anything if I can help it, Chin Boy. I'm perfect just the way that I am."

"Really? Even with that nose and the whole being too short thing that you have going on?" the Doctor joked.

"Shut up. Like you can talk with that Launchpad that you call a chin sticking out of your face there," Clara said as she playfully punched him in the arm.

"Oi!" the Doctor protested even as he continued smiling.

"Clara, are you alright?" Artie asked as he slowly walked toward her.

"I'm fine. Don't worry," Clara said as she motioned for him to come to her.

"So you're an alien?" Artie asked.

"Yeah, I'm a Time Lord like the Doctor is. Is that alright?" Clara asked both children with a worried look on her face as she waited for their reaction.

"Cool!" Artie said happily.

Angie looked at her hesitantly as she said, "It's a little hard to take right now, but I think I'll be okay with it eventually."

Clara smiled and kissed her forehead as she pulled both children close to her and hugged them. The Doctor smiled at her and was happy that things had worked out between them.

"Being exposed to my timestream must have reawakened your own memories of being a Time Lord. No wonder you said that you didn't know who you were while you were inside there. You were starting to remember that you were someone other than Clara Oswald. I should have known that it was really you somehow. I just thought that it was a coincidence that you looked so much like my old friend because I could never find any evidence that you were anything else. I never did see a fob watch anywhere. I'd really like to know where that was by the way. It's also no wonder that I liked you from the moment that I first met you and felt so much affection for you. It wasn't just because of who you looked like. Somehow I must have subconsciously sensed that it really was you. In fact, I bet that's why you're the only other person who the TARDIS will let open her doors by snapping your fingers. She must have figured out who you were before I did," the Doctor said with a huge smile on his face.

"So who are you?" Artie asked.

"Clara," Clara said trying to deflect his question.

The Doctor looked at her in surprise but found that he liked it. He didn't want to lose the part of her that was Clara so if she insisted on being called Clara then that was what he'd call her. He still couldn't help but wonder why though.

"No, who were you before you were Clara, and how did you pretend to be human anyway? I've seen pictures of you as a baby. How does that work? Is it some kind of Jedi mind trick?" Artie asked intrigued.

Clara laughed as she said, "No, I really was a baby. Time Lords can change the age of their bodies at will. This time I became a baby, and then my TARDIS turned me into a human with no memories with a machine that we have called a Chameleon Arch. Then it made sure that my human Mum and Dad found me and thought that I was theirs. This is so weird thinking of myself as an alien."

"Why would you want to be a human for when you could be an alien? I'd never want to be a human if I had a choice. Humans are boring," Artie said.

"What are you talking about? Humans are wonderful. You're all so much better than you think that you are. You're practically unstoppable when you get it in your minds to do something and so wonderfully adaptable to every situation. That's one of the reasons why you're my favorite species," the Doctor said proudly.

"You know I can actually remember a time when humans weren't allowed on Gallifrey. That was ridiculous, wasn't it? I always agreed with you that humans had the potential to be a truly great species. From what I've seen traveling alongside you, I'd say that you were right all along. I bet that inflates your ego nicely doesn't it, Chin Boy?" Clara said with a huge grin.

"It's always nice to be right. Then again I'm pretty much always right," the Doctor said smugly.

"You certainly haven't changed since we were kids. You're still just as insufferably arrogant as ever," Clara said laughing.

"Wait a minute! You know each other from before? You grew up together?" Angie asked in disbelief.

"And you somehow met again not knowing who she is to you? Who is she anyway? Is Clara your wife?" Artie asked in an excited voice.

Angie's eyes widened at that as she asked Clara, "Are you his wife?"

Clara and the Doctor both blushed as she said, "No! No, we're just friends. That's all. It was entirely platonic. We never even kissed. Well, one of my echoes kissed him, but I didn't know who I was then. She wasn't really me anyway so it doesn't count. Still it was a nice kiss though. I never knew you had it in you, Doctor."

Clara smiled at the Doctor with a sly grin on her face that quickly vanished as she realized what she had said. Her face turned completely red with embarrassment as she said, "I don't know why I said that. My mind must still be mixed up from opening the watch. That's it. It's the watch."

"Boy, you really are still Clara, aren't you?" Angie said rolling her eyes at her.

"So you're just friends? Are you sure that you're not something more?" Artie asked playfully.

Both Time Lords blushed again as the Doctor said, "No, I love her dearly, but we were only ever friends. She was my best friend though. She was the one that I could always trust with everything, and I could always go to her whenever I was upset about something. Somehow she always brought out the best in me and seemed to have a calming effect on me no matter how angry that I was."

Clara smiled at him and put her hand on his shoulder as if to say that that would never change.

Clara picked up the story now as she said fondly, "We grew up together since we were Time Tots, and we were inseparable. The Doctor used to call us the Three Musketeers after one of his favorite Earth books."

"Three?" Artie asked.

The Doctor looked sad as he said, "I had another friend too once. I was just as close to him as I am to Clara. They were my only friends, and they made what was otherwise a very lonely childhood into something at least somewhat bearable. He went mad though, and he turned against me. I still think of him as my friend, but he definitely doesn't see me that way."

"Are you two still going at it? You've been fighting since you were kids!" Clara asked in disbelief.

"Yes, but that was just playful roughhousing. This is different. Now, he's always trying to kill me in addition to trying to take over the universe. You haven't heard of what the Master's done since he left?" the Doctor asked in surprise.

"I left soon after you did, Doctor, but it honestly wouldn't surprise me. I always did feel as if he was a powder keg waiting to blow," Clara said.

"I honestly thought that you would go with me and Susan. You did pick out our TARDIS for us after all, and you did a very good job at it at that. I always wondered why you picked that particular one," the Doctor said.

"I don't know. I just had a good feeling about her like she was meant for better things or something. You can see how she's repaid me since though. The Old Cow hates me and after I helped her gain her freedom too! That's gratitude for you," Clara said.

"What were you doing there in the repair shop in the first place though?" the Doctor asked.

Clara smiled mischievously as she said, "I was planning on doing the same thing as you. I stole a TARDIS and fled too."

"Why?" the Doctor asked.

"There was nothing left for me on Gallifrey anymore. I just wanted to leave and find a new life on Earth. You talked about it so much when we were growing up that I thought it would be nice to start all over again there as someone else. You know what? You were right. I love being me. Being Clara Oswald is so much better than who I was before," Clara said happily.

"Who were you though?" Artie persisted.

"It really doesn't matter does it? All that matters is that I'm Clara now," Clara said in an upset voice.

"Clara, are you alright?" the Doctor asked in concern.

"I'm fine. I'm always fine," Clara said.

"That's my line, isn't it? What happened? Why did you leave right after I did for? I always thought that you were happy," the Doctor said in confusion.

"I just wanted to start all over again and do something new. Why are you making such a big deal about it for?" Clara asked growing more emotional by the moment.

"It's not. It's no big deal at all. I'm sorry. It's none of my business. I just worry about you. I always worried about you because you're so special to me both then and now," the Doctor said as he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her forehead.

"I really am okay now. I promise. I love being Clara and I'm happy. I'm happy just to be with you again," Clara said.

"Are you sure? You'd tell me if there was something bothering you, right?" the Doctor asked.

"Of course I would. We never kept secrets from one another on Gallifrey so why start now?" Clara asked.

"Good because I only want the best for you," the Doctor said as he continued to hold her.

"I know," Clara said as she closed her eyes and rested her head on his chest with a peaceful, serene expression on her face.

"Is he blind?" Angie whispered to Artie.

Artie shrugged his shoulders. He didn't even understand human grown-ups much less alien ones.

Clara smiled at them and at how perceptive that they both were. They already knew that she loved him even if he still didn't after a thousand years.

She had always loved him, but he had never noticed her at least not in the way that she had wanted him to. She was always just a friend to him and nothing more than that. Then he fell in love and got married to someone else while she tried to move on. She never could though.

She took solace in the fact that at least she was still a part of his life, and she could still see him on occasion when she wanted to. Then he even took that away from her when he left Gallifrey and became a renegade. She had started to go with him, but he and Susan were in such a hurry that he never even asked her. She didn't try to impose herself on them either since she wasn't sure that Susan would appreciate someone who wasn't family coming along with them. After that, she just wanted to become someone else, anyone else, so that she could forget the man that she was sure that she would never see again.

Somehow though, they had magically found their way back to one another yet again. She wondered if it was the Doctor's TARDIS paying her back for choosing her as the one that the Doctor picked when he left. Anything was possible she supposed.

All she knew was that she was going to make the best of this second chance that she had been given and would continue to travel with him as Clara and if a friend was all that he wanted then that was what she would be.

She could dream though, couldn't she? She could still dream that someday she might be something more.

After all if he could find her again and become her best friend twice just by pure chance that must mean that it was meant to be, right? Maybe someday he would finally wake up and see her at last. Maybe someday he would finally notice.

She was the Impossible Girl after all so maybe she could work her magic and pull off the impossible one last time when it mattered the most to her. Maybe she could actually get something that was glaringly obvious to everyone else through that thick skull of the Doctor's.

Until then though, she was content just to be traveling through time and space by his side at last, and if she had her way she was going to stay there forever. She was no longer Alura of the House of Heartshaven. She had been reborn now and from this point on she was Clara Oswald forevermore. Unlike her previous self, Clara had a whole new life of possibilities opening up in front of her at last.

Maybe this time she and the Doctor would finally get it right. She had to believe that because as Clara she had learned the one lesson that Alura never had.

Nothing was impossible.

**There it is. I hope you liked it. I love reinventing Clara and yet still trying to keep her the same Clara that we all know and love. Hopefully I did a good job at that and I hope that you liked it.**

**If you liked the Alura version of Clara maybe I could show her again somewhere. Please let me know what you thought.**


	2. Clara Reunites With An Old Friend

CHAPTER 2

I do not own Doctor Who and I am not making any profit off of this.

**Thank you so much for your favorites and follows and the review! I really appreciate the reaction to this story! I've decided to turn it into an ongoing story as a result of that.**

CLARA REUNITES WITH AN OLD FRIEND

"So what's it like being an alien? Do you feel any different than you did as a human?" Artie asked Clara.

It was the next day since he had his mind blown by the revelation that Clara was actually a Time Lord like the Doctor. He still couldn't get over it. She still seemed just like the Clara that he had always known and yet he now half expected her to start babbling away talking nonsense or pulling out some alien gadget at any moment like the Doctor. He was almost disappointed that she didn't.

Clara smiled at him as she said, "I'm exactly the same, Artie, I swear. You act like I'm about to sprout an extra head or something."

"Can you?" Artie asked hopefully.

"No, sorry. I could try to give myself one when I regenerate though I suppose. Then again that might not be such a bright idea because the Doctor says that I'm already too bossy as it is," Clara said giggling.

"You could really do that?" Artie asked.

"Oh, don't be so stupid! She's just joking with you. Right?" Angie asked Clara.

Clara just grinned evilly but said nothing.

"No! You're kidding me," Angie said in disbelief.

They were then interrupted by the sound of a TARDIS materializing in the middle of the living room. Clara smiled at first and then her smile quickly turned to horror as she realized that it wasn't the Doctor's TARDIS.

This TARDIS was in the form of an old Grandfather clock, and somehow Clara knew exactly who it belonged to before its owner even showed himself. Somehow Clara could just feel that it was the Master's TARDIS.

Everything that the Doctor had told her that the Master had done since she had last seen him ran through her mind all at once, and she immediately got in front of the children as she ordered, "Stay behind me!"

The Master emerged from his TARDIS and stood there staring at her for several moments without speaking and with absolutely no trace of any emotion on his face whatsoever. It was just a few minutes, but it seemed like an eternity as Clara's hearts thundered in her chest with fear over what he might do to her or the children.

She was determined to die giving them a chance to escape if she had to, but she really hoped that it didn't come to that.

Then the Master smiled at her. It wasn't a malevolent smile though like she was expecting from the Doctor's stories. It was a smile filled with pure joy at seeing her again.

"Alura! It really is you!" the Master said as he suddenly wrapped his arms around her without warning making her gasp in fear for a moment.

"Alura?" the Master asked as he felt Clara shaking with fear through his embrace.

He immediately let her go and said in a hurt voice, "You've seen the Doctor first haven't you? He's poisoned your mind against me."

"He told me some of the things that you did, yes. I didn't want to believe that they were true, but the Doctor would never lie to me about something like that. He knows how close that we all were," Clara said.

"Did he also tell you why I did all of those things? Did he tell you that the drums were real and that they drove me more and more insane over the centuries? Did he tell you that they were put in my head by Rassilon as a way for him to escape the Time War? Did he bother to mention any of that at all?" the Master asked in an angry voice.

"Yes, he did actually. He also mentioned how you saved his life the last time that he saw you. That sounds like the you that I know. Right now you're also acting like the you that I know. I want to believe that you can still be that person again. I need to believe that," Clara said.

The Master smiled as he said, "I am that person again. I've changed, Alura. The drums are gone now ever since Rassilon and the others were sent back into the Time Lock, and I've changed since that day. I was able to escape thanks to the help of this blonde woman that I met out in the desert on Gallifrey. She had this incredible power and she set me free with it after I was able to convince her that I really had changed by letting her into my mind."

Clara studied him for a moment and then smiled as she said, "I believe you. I'm so happy for you, Koschei. I take it that the Doctor doesn't know any of this then?"

"No, I haven't even told him that I escaped the Time Lock. He would never believe that I had changed anyway. He's not as open minded as you are," the Master said as he stared at her with a huge smile on his face.

"So can we come out from behind you now?" Artie asked impatiently.

"Yeah, is he going to kill us or what?" Angie asked.

"No, he's not," Clara said firmly as the children came out from behind her and hesitantly waved hello to the Master.

The Master looked surprised as Clara said, "These are my children, Angie and Artie. Kids, this is my other best friend, Koschei."

The Master's jaw dropped as he said, "Your children?"

Clara laughed as she said, "They're not really mine, but I feel like they are. I watch them for their dad. I'm an old friend of the family's. What if they were mine? What of it?"

"You're not our mother," Angie said.

"Angie, don't be rude," Artie said.

"Shut up. You don't tell me what to do," Angie protested.

"Maybe not but I do. Both of you stop arguing right this minute. Angie, don't tell your brother to shut up. Be nice to each other," Clara ordered.

Both children sulked but obeyed as the Master laughed at their expressions.

"You haven't changed a bit. You still have the magic touch with children just like you always have. I half expected you to have some of your own by now. Where were you all of this time anyway? I thought that you had died after you just disappeared the way that you did," the Master said.

Clara quickly explained about having used the Chameleon Arch and becoming Clara, and he nodded as he said, "Yes, I did that too to escape the Time War. Unlike you though I felt no desire to stay connected to my human life."

"I do though and it's Clara now not Alura," Clara said.

The Master looked at her in surprise as Angie asked, "So your name is really Alura? No wonder you prefer Clara."

"Alura is one of my names, yes. It doesn't matter though because I'm just Clara Oswald now and that's all," Clara said.

"Alura. I like it. I think it sounds kind of pretty," Artie said.

"You would," Angie said rolling her eyes.

"You want me to call you Clara?" the Master asked Clara as he briefly glared at the squabbling children.

They immediately shut up under his angry gaze and went back behind Clara. She grabbed both of their hands and squeezed them to let them know that they were safe as long as she was there.

Clara noticed that his patience with the children was already beginning to wear thin, and she knew that he was only being as nice as he was to them earlier for her benefit. Koschei had never been comfortable around children even when he was one.

"Yes, I do want to be called Clara. I've even insisted that the Doctor call me that. I also insist that you don't scare my children like that again or you're going to have to deal with me," Clara said obstinately as she stood up to him.

The Master looked surprised at her reaction at first and then smiled at the children as he said, "I'm sorry. I'm not used to children."

"You'll have to get used to it if you want us to be friends. That is what you're here for isn't it?" Clara asked.

"I only came here to see if what I sensed was real. After only sensing the Doctor for so long and blocking my mind from his so that he wouldn't find me, it was shocking to suddenly feel your mind just appearing out of nowhere. I had to know if it was really you or not. Now that I'm here I would like to be your friend again though. I really would. I've missed you, Al – Clara. I've missed you so much," the Master said as he wrapped his arms around her again.

Clara smiled as she said, "You almost said my old name again, didn't you? You'll have to be careful about that, Laughing Boy. I'd like for us to be friends too. I'm not sure how the Doctor will react though."

"Something tells me that we're about to find out," the Master said as he let Clara go when he heard the sound of the Doctor's TARDIS materializing next to his.

"Now don't start anything, Koschei," Clara said.

"It's not me that you have to worry about," the Master said with a smirk as the Doctor came running out of his TARDIS with a panicked look on his face.

"Clara, get away from him! He's not the person that you remember anymore. He's extremely dangerous now," the Doctor said with concern.

"He's changed, Doctor. The drums are gone now. I was right about that by the way. I told you that they were real," Clara said.

"Don't rub it in, Clara. What matters is that they drove him insane, and now he's too dangerous for anyone to be around anymore especially children," the Doctor said as he looked at Angie and Artie with worry.

"Doctor, he really has changed. He's just like he was again," Clara insisted.

The Doctor shook his head profusely as he said with concern, "He's become very good at lying now, Clara. He's even better at it than he was when we were kids. He's trying to confuse you and convince you that he's someone different but he's not. He's pure evil, Clara, and you can't trust him even for a moment. He'll kill you if you're not careful."

The Master's eyes lit up with anger as he said, "Stop it! Stop trying to turn her against me! You know that's a lie! I'd never hurt her!"

"How do I know that? I used to think that you'd never hurt me, but I was so wrong. I won't give you a chance to hurt her. I'll never let that happen!" the Doctor said as he glared at the Master.

As the two Time Lords locked gazes and stared each other down, Clara sighed and said, "It's just like old times again alright."

"So they both fought over you because they were madly in love with you back then too?" Angie asked with an evil grin.

All three Time Lords turned bright red as the Doctor said, "I'm not in love with her. I don't know why you would think that. We're just good friends that's all. Just friends."

The Master said nothing. He did snort loudly at the Doctor's statement however.

"You're both my friends. We're all going to be good friends again just like we were back in the old days on Gallifrey," Clara said as she put an arm around both men while they went back to glaring at each other.

"I'm not his friend," The Doctor and the Master both said at once.

"We're all friends, aren't we?" Clara said in the same voice that she used on the children to get them to behave.

Both Time Lords looked at her with protesting looks on their faces as she said, "I don't care what happened in the past. Now that I'm back we're all going to be friends once more, and there will be no more fighting. You're both going to be nice to each other from now on. Got it?"

"I won't be his friend," the Master said stubbornly.

"I won't be his either. I don't trust him. He doesn't even like jelly babies," the Doctor said just as stubbornly.

"You will be nice to one another and stop fighting or I won't have anything to do with either one of you anymore," Clara threatened.

Both Time Lords looked at her in shock as their faces went pale. They could see that she meant what she said, and both of them immediately stuck out a hand to the other one.

"I'm willing to try if you are," the Doctor said as he shook the Master's hand.

"Anything you can do I can do it even better. I'll be a better friend than you," the Master said.

"No, I'll be the better friend. You don't even know how to be one. I've had much more practice at it. I have tons of friends," the Doctor said.

"Yes, and you eventually leave them all behind and never see them again too. Some friend you are," the Master said as he started to squeeze the Doctor's hand hard while he shook it.

"At least I actually have friends," the Doctor said as he squeezed the Master's hand back even harder.

Both of them started to groan in pain as they were basically trying to break each other's hands even while they shook them. Clara sighed as she realized that she had a lot of hard work ahead of us with these two. It was going to be a full-time job just trying to keep them from each other's throats much less trying to make them be friends once again.

"Alright, boys, you can stop being so friendly now. I don't want either of you to lose a hand out of it," Clara said rolling her eyes at their behavior.

"He started it," Both men said at once.

"Here I thought you two were bad. You're both perfect little angels compared to these two silly boys," Clara said to Artie and Angie with a huge smile on her face.

"Clara, I'm willing to try to get along with him for your sake. I'm still going to be worried about you with him on the loose though," the Doctor said.

"I would never hurt her. She's very special to me just like she is to you," the Master protested.

The Doctor looked at him sternly as he said in a cold, hard voice, "I will give you the benefit of the doubt just this once because I want to believe that there is still some small part of you that cares about her. If you ever hurt her though, I will rip you apart. I will show you no mercy whatsoever. Do you understand?"

The Master smiled at him as he said, "I like this regeneration, Doctor. You've got a real spine in this one. Yes, I do understand. As much as I would love to see you try to tear me apart, I will never give you any cause to as far as Alura is concerned. I would never lay a hand on her."

The two men stared deeply into each other's eyes then as the Doctor tried to judge the truth of the Master's statement for himself. Finally he nodded and said nothing more.

Clara smiled as she knew that an uneasy truce had just been established. It wasn't perfect but it was better than nothing she supposed.

"Now that's more like it. From now on, both of you are going to get along just fine aren't you, my clever boys?" Clara said as she gave both of them a kiss on the cheek.

"Yes, of course," the Doctor said with a large smile on his face while the Master only nodded as he stared at Clara with eyes filled with warmth.

"So what are we going to do now?" Clara asked.

"What do you mean?" the Doctor asked as the Master looked at her questioningly.

"I mean that we're the last three Time Lords in the universe. Maybe we should stick close to one another just like in the old days. I mean I'd love to travel with both of you, but I'm sure one of you would soon get jealous of the other one so why don't we all travel together? You can both come here to my home to pick me up on Wednesdays like the Doctor usually does, and then the three of us can travel together in the Doctor's TARDIS. How about it?" Clara asked both men.

"You want me to travel with him?" the Doctor asked in disbelief.

"You want me to travel in his old decrepit TARDIS. That wretched machine isn't safe. It should have been condemned a long time ago," the Master said.

"Boys, those are my conditions. I want us to get to know one another again and to become good friends just like we used to be. Take it or leave it. If you leave it though, then I won't travel with either one of you ever again," Clara said.

"Why are you doing this?" the Doctor asked.

"I want to give him a second chance. That's why. He's my friend too just like you are," Clara said.

Clara stared at him for a long moment with her large brown eyes pleading with him to go along with her on this. He finally nodded as he could never refuse her anything.

"Okay. I'm going to keep a close watch on him though," the Doctor said.

"I'm going to keep a close watch on that horrible TARDIS of yours to make sure that we don't all wind up scattered across the Vortex. With your driving, I really wouldn't doubt it if that would be exactly what happened," the Master said.

The Doctor glared at him even as Clara said, "Okay, boys. You can go now. Come back when it's Wednesday."

"What?" the Master asked confused.

"She only travels with me on Wednesdays because that's her day off from watching the children. You get used to it. I mostly just travel ahead to the next Wednesday because I hate to wait," the Doctor admitted.

The Master nodded as he said, "An excellent idea."

"Well, at least you two have finally agreed on something. If you two can keep this kind of thing up maybe you'll be back to fighting alongside each other instead of against each other in no time. Who knows? Goodbye, boys. I'll see you both on Wednesday then, and I expect you both to be on your best behavior."

Both Time Lords smiled at her and then quickly left with an eager look of anticipation on both of their faces.

"They're both so lovesick over her that it's disgusting," Angie whispered to Artie.

"Who do you think she likes?" Artie whispered back.

"Oh, the Doctor of course. No contest," Angie said.

"How do you know? She kissed both of them," Artie said.

"I just know. That's all. I know from the way that she looks at them. She cares about them both, but the Doctor is the one that she loves," Angie said.

"What are you two up to? I always get a bit uneasy when you start whispering," Clara said.

"Nothing," Both children said with sudden innocent looks on their faces.

"Uh huh. Why don't I believe you?" Clara said.

Then she hugged them both as she whispered, "Angie's right."

Both children looked at each other in shock while Clara just smiled.

**Next: It's Wednesday and the Doctor and the Master have both returned to travel with Clara. Will they both manage to behave themselves or will the whole thing turn into a complete disaster?**


	3. A Life Changing Decision

CHAPTER 3

I do not own Doctor Who and I am not making any profit off of this.

**Thank you for your favorites and follows and reviews! **

A LIFE CHANGING DECISION

It was finally Wednesday at last and Clara was eagerly waiting for the Doctor and the Master to arrive. So far neither one of them had showed, but she was sure that they would appear any minute now.

Instead of one of the two Time Lords appearing first though, she got an unexpected visitor instead. As she stood there in her living room waiting for the sound of a TARDIS materializing, she was completely taken by surprise when her front door opened instead, and Tish Jones stepped inside.

Oh, no! Not now. Please not now of all times. Clara thought to herself in alarm.

"Hey, Clara. I hope that I'm not interrupting anything. You gave me a key and said that I could let myself in any time so I did. If you don't want me here though, I'll gladly leave," Tish said.

Clara had first met Tish years ago back when her mother was in her last days and having to visit the hospital a lot. She had run into a very caring nursing student named Martha Jones there who had really helped her to deal with her mother's illness. In fact, she had gone way beyond her job description to help both her, her father, and her mother in those dark days.

It was through Martha that Clara had gotten to know Martha's sister, Tish, because she had introduced her to her once when she came to visit Martha at the hospital. Clara and Tish had quickly become very good friends from that day on, and Tish had been a big help to her in the terrible days after her mother's death. Both of the Jones sisters had been, and she considered them both to be like sisters to her.

Martha and Tish had both become so close to her during that time that Clara had given each of them a key to her home and made that promise to Tish that she could come there at any time she wanted to whether she was there or not. Tish had told her that she sometimes needed a place to go to get away from her family for a while and blow off steam after all.

Now she was really beginning to wish that she had never made that promise.

Clara tried to keep the panic out of her voice even as she watched for one of her friends to appear at any moment as she said, "I'm kind of expecting some visitors actually. Any other time would be just fine, Tish, but not today. I'm sorry. I don't want to be rude, but I'm really going to be very busy today."

Tish began to smile as she said, "You're going on a date, aren't you?"

"No, it's not a date. I'm just seeing some old friends. That's all," Clara said as she kept looking for one or both TARDISes to appear at any moment now.

"Is one of these 'old friends' a man?" Tish asked grinning.

Clara tried very hard not to sound angry as she said, "They both are actually, but I'm not dating either one of them. They're old classmates of mine, Tish. Could you go before they get here? I really don't want to sound rude, but I'm expecting them at any minute now."

"Alright, honey. I'll go. I'm sorry if I upset you," Tish said finally taking the hint.

"It's alright, Tish. I'll see you later, okay?" Clara said giving her a warm smile.

Tish smiled back at her and was heading toward the door when the sound of a TARDIS materializing started to come from nearby. Clara groaned out loud as she realized that it was now too late.

Tish whirled around immediately because she knew that sound. Her sister, Martha, had once been a companion to the Doctor after all, and she herself had unwillingly joined him for an adventure once. She didn't even want to think about the other experience that she shared with the Doctor. She never wanted to think about that horrible year ever again.

Clara sighed as she saw the Master's TARDIS materializing first. This was going to be fun.

She had no idea.

As soon as the Master exited the TARDIS, he saw Tish and froze. Tish froze as well and began to shake with terror. Clara knew immediately that something was very, very wrong from the look of absolute fear on Tish's face.

"Tish, it's okay. This is a friend of mine. He won't hurt you," Clara said in a soothing voice.

Tish just stared at her like she was crazy as she said, "Are you kidding? He's the Master. He destroyed the entire world and held me and my family prisoner for a year. No one remembers it now because the Doctor undid it all somehow but I do. I remember every last moment of it. He hurt the people that I love. He terrorized me day and night for that entire time. I still have nightmares about what he did, Clara. He's a monster. You can't trust him no matter what he's told you."

Clara could see the truth of what she was saying in her eyes and in the shame on the Master's face. She immediately embraced her friend as she said, "He's not going to hurt you. I won't let him. He's changed from who he used to be, Tish. I can promise you that. There's no need to be afraid of him anymore."

"You can't believe him, Clara. He'll say anything to get what he wants. Are you traveling with him? Has he . . . has he hurt you?" Tish asked in alarm as she remembered what the Master did to his wife.

"No, he's never hurt me. I am going to start traveling with him today. I won't be alone though. I'm also going with the Doctor. He's my other friend and I have been traveling with him a lot recently. I take it that you probably know him too if you know the Master," Clara said.

"Martha traveled with him once. The Doctor wants to travel with him after what he did to him?" Tish asked in disbelief.

"Not really, no. I convinced him to do it. He doesn't trust the Master any more than you do," Clara said as she finally began to realize just why the Doctor had acted that way.

"I see why he's going with you now so that he can protect you. The Doctor's right about him, Clara. You can't trust this man. He's killed and hurt so many people. So many," Tish said in a voice filled with pain and sorrow.

Clara looked at her in shock as this was not Tish's normal personality at all. She never would have guessed that she was hiding so much pain inside of her.

She had noticed a few years ago though that something happened to Tish for a while. She had seemed a bit off and aloof for a few months. She had never known why, but Tish seemed to recover her old personality after a while so she had never pressed her on the matter.

Now she finally knew, and she didn't like it. Not one bit.

She couldn't help but stare at the Master with absolute anger in her eyes, and this made him look away from her with a pained expression on his face. She was trying to control herself, but it was very hard to do that when her friend was falling apart right in front of her because of what the Master had done to her.

It was at that moment that the Doctor finally arrived. He noticed the anger on Clara's face as soon as he left the TARDIS and immediately rushed to her side placing himself in front of her protectively.

"What did you do to her?!" the Doctor demanded.

"Nothing. I didn't do anything . . . to her," the Master said in an almost quiet voice.

"Clara, are you alright?" the Doctor asked as her wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tightly.

"I'm fine. I'm very, very angry to find out what Koschei did to my friend, Tish, though. Very angry," Clara said as she continued to burn holes in the Master with her eyes.

"Tish?" the Doctor asked.

It was at that moment that the Doctor first noticed Tish standing there in tears. He hadn't even seen her before because he was so worried about Clara.

"Tish. it's me. It's the Doctor," the Doctor said in a gentle voice.

"Martha said you could change your face, but I didn't believe her. Hello, Doctor. I'm so glad that you're here. Maybe you can talk some sense into Clara. She thinks that she can go traveling with . . . him," Tish said.

"I know. I tried to tell her, but she wouldn't listen. Maybe you'll listen to Tish now, Clara," the Doctor said.

Clara pulled away from him and stood in front of the Master with a furious expression on her face as she said, "Do you really want to change, Koschei? Do you honestly want to make up for what you did? Are you truly sorry for it? Answer me and answer me truthfully. I'll know if you're lying. I always did."

Tish looked on in complete surprise as her friend seemed to be making the Master cower in fear before her. She could tell immediately that he was completely terrified of her disapproval.

The Master looked Clara straight in the eyes as he said, "I am truly sorry for everything that I ever did to hurt anyone. I really do want to make up for it, and I promise you that I would never do anything to cause any more harm to anyone again unless there were no other choice. I swear that to you."

"Do you swear it to our friendship, Koschei?" Clara asked.

"Yes, I do," the Master said.

Clara nodded as she said, "I'm giving to believe you and give you one chance to change, Koschei. If you don't and you go back to your old ways in any way, then we are no longer friends. Do you understand? If you ever become the horrible person that Tish described to me again, I will never ever have anything to do with you for the rest of our lives. Do you understand?"

The Master looked at her with a very scared look on his face that shocked Tish as he nodded and said, "I'll never give you any reason to do that. I promise."

"Good," Clara said and then she gave the Master a hug and kissed his cheek.

Tish gasped while the Doctor said in a low voice, "I know. I still can't believe it either."

"Let's go then. I'll be back later, Tish. I'm going traveling with my boys here. Everything's fine. Don't worry, okay?" Clara said.

"Clara, you can't believe that man. You shouldn't go off traveling with him even if the Doctor does go with you," Tish warned.

"Finally someone who agrees with me," the Doctor said.

"I won't hurt her. Never her," the Master said in a voice filled with such tenderness that it made Tish wonder if he really was the same man that she had met before.

Clara smiled at him as she said, "I know, Koschei. I believe you."

"I don't. I'm going with you, Clara. Someone has to watch your back. The Doctor is a good man, but I don't trust him to do it all by himself. He couldn't protect Martha from the Master before after all. She had to save the world pretty much all by herself," Tish said.

"Martha saved the world? You're really going to have to tell me about that and about her other adventures with the Doctor," Clara said eagerly.

"I will, Clara, and once I get done you'll agree with me that Time Lords are nothing but trouble. They never bring anything but pain and suffering to everyone around them even when they don't mean to. It's best just to avoid them entirely believe me," Tish said.

Clara looked uneasy as she said, "That can't be true, Tish. Not all Time Lords are trouble."

"They all are, Clara. I know they are," Tish said firmly.

"No, you're wrong," Clara said in an emotional voice.

Tish couldn't understand why Clara was so upset about that. You'd think that she had just insulted her personally the way that she was acting.

The Doctor held Clara as he said in a low voice, "It's okay, Clara. She doesn't understand what she's saying. You're a good person. You'd never hurt anyone. I know that. You know it too. If Tish knew what she was saying, she'd be the first to apologize to you about it."

"I know, Doctor," Clara said sounding unconvinced.

She had to admit that Tish's words had really wounded her deeply even though she knew that had never been her intention. She was going to make very sure that she proved Tish wrong and that there would be at least one Time Lord who never brought her any pain: her.

"Clara, are you alright?" Tish asked confused.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Let's go now. Are you still coming?" Clara asked as she tried her best to smile at her in a nonchalant manner.

"You bet I am," Tish said determined to protect Clara.

The Master said nothing as he followed the others into the Doctor's TARDIS, and the Doctor soon dematerialized it. As they traveled through the Vortex, no one spoke at all, and you could cut the tension in the room with a knife.

Clara wished more than anything that the happy mood that she had been in this morning hadn't been taken away from her quite so quickly. She knew that the Master had done terrible things, but she had never actually heard about them from someone who was there before much less someone who she knew. This brought the whole thing home to her in a way that nothing else could.

"Clara, are you sure you're okay?" Tish asked finally breaking the silence.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Clara said.

"This is your fault," the Master said to the Doctor.

"My fault? How?" the Doctor asked.

"If you had come earlier, then none of this would have happened," the Master said.

"Yes, blame the results of your homicidal actions on me. That makes so much sense," the Doctor grumbled.

"Just shut up," the Master said.

"Both of you be quiet. Let's let the past stay in the past and just try to enjoy ourselves, okay?" Clara said.

Again both Time Lords instantly became quiet as soon as Clara spoke, and Tish couldn't help but wonder just how she was able to control both of them especially the Master so easily. What kind of hold did she have over the two of them?

The TARDIS soon landed, and the Doctor actually seemed to become happy once more as he said, "I can't believe it. You won't believe it, Clara. Guess where we are."

Clara began to smile again at his almost childish enthusiasm as she said, "I don't know. I never did like guessing games. Just tell me, Chin Boy."

Tish looked at her in surprise as she mouthed 'Chin Boy?'

"We're back at the first place that I ever took you in the TARDIS. It's the asteroid that used to circle around Akhaten. We're in the marketplace there actually," the Doctor said happily.

"You mean that dreadful place that you used to drag me and Alura off to all the time when we were young? I never did know what you found so great about the place," the Master said disdainfully.

"It's fun. You can find all kinds of special one of a kind items there that you'll never find anywhere else. That's where Susan found my five hundred year diary. I love that diary. I've used it all up since she gave it to me. That reminds me. I wonder if I could find another one there. You never know. Wouldn't that be exciting? That would be so cool. Maybe I'd even find a thousand year diary," the Doctor said in an energetic voice.

"Well, someone's pretty optimistic about their future," the Master said laughing.

"Is that a threat?" the Doctor asked.

"No, it's just an observation. You are on you last life after all," the Master noted.

Clara looked at him sharply as she said, "You never told me that."

"I try not to think about it," the Doctor said.

"I'm sorry. That doesn't mean that you're going anywhere anytime soon though. You could still have several centuries left in you yet," Clara said hopefully.

The Doctor smiled at her usual boundless optimism as he said, "That's right, Clara. You're absolutely right. I could and I will. I'm going to spend all of that time with you from now on."

Clara smiled at him as she said, "You bet you are, Chinny. From now on, we're not wasting any more time, got it?"

"Yes, boss," the Doctor said grinning.

"Sickening," the Master said disdainfully.

"Shut up. Who asked you anyway?" the Doctor asked in an irritated voice.

"I only call it like I see it," the Master said as he smiled at the Doctor's anger.

"Boys," Clara said admonishing them.

Both of them became quiet once more as Tish wondered what exactly was going on here. What had the Doctor meant about Clara spending the rest of his life with him? That wasn't possible.

Was it?

"Come on, Clara. Let's see what's available at the marketplace today, eh?" the Doctor asked as he opened the doors and went out first pulling her along with him.

The Master and Tish followed them as Tish went after the Master in an unspoken agreement. She wasn't about to turn her back on him for a second.

The Doctor soon found his friend Doreen again and barked at her in her language while Clara laughed. She could finally understand Doreen's language now that she was a Time Lord again, and she eagerly barked back at her while she talked to them. Tish looked at them both like they were mad but said nothing.

They all searched through Doreen's items as the Doctor searched for a new diary among them. His search proved unsuccessful, and they were about to go onto the next merchant when suddenly they all heard shouting coming from nearby.

Clara followed the shouting to its source and discovered a scene that provoked a sense of déjà vu in her as she saw Merry, the little girl that she met the last time that she had come here, running from some of her own people . . . again.

Merry ran right into Clara in her haste to get away from the others. Clara restrained her and asked, "What's wrong?"

"Let me go!" Merry screamed.

Then she recognized Clara and said in an amazed voice, "Clara? Is it really you?"

"It's really me. What's wrong, Merry?" Clara asked again.

"I wasn't sure if it was you or not. You seem different somehow. Clara, they want to send me away. The people don't want me here anymore because they have no more use for the Queen of Years with Akhaten gone. They want to take me away from here and give me to some people I don't even know because my family are all dead now. I don't want to go. This is the only home I know. The only people that I know are all here. I'll be left with a bunch of strangers in a strange place all by myself," Merry protested as the men who had been chasing her finally caught up to her at last.

"This is none of your business, alien. Stay out of our affairs," one of the men chasing Merry said.

"Excuse me but Clara saved all of your lives and not too long ago either from the looks of it. I think she has a perfect right to involve herself in the little girl's business since she helped save her too when you lot were going to sacrifice her," the Doctor said indignantly.

"Here he goes again interfering where he shouldn't. He's going to get us all in trouble soon. Just you watch," the Master grumbled.

"Shut up. If you didn't want to come, all you had to do was say so," the Doctor said.

"I wanted him to come, Theta," Clara reminded him.

Tish continued to look at her strangely as she seemed to know both Time Lords so well and even called them by names other than the ones that Tish knew them by. What was going on here?

Clara kept a protective arm around Merry as she said to the men who had been chasing her, "If Merry doesn't want to go then she shouldn't have to. This is her home after all."

"We can no longer afford to keep her fed and clothed. Her role is useless now that we are no longer in danger. We can't take care of her anymore with public money thanks to that so we need to find her a new home with someone who will take care of her. It's as simple as that," One of the men said.

"No one here was willing to take her in?" Clara asked in disbelief.

The men shook their heads, and Clara looked at them in disgust. The little girl had helped Clara and the Doctor save all of their lives, and this was the gratitude that she received for it?

Clara looked at the terrified Merry and made a quick decision as she said, "How about me?"

"What?" The men asked as the Doctor looked at her questioningly and Merry looked at her in shock.

"I want to take care of her. I'll take her in and take care of her since no one else seems willing to. How about me?" Clara asked again.

The men looked at her skeptically as they said, "She is still a former queen. Not just anyone can be allowed to take care of her. You would have to prove that you were of noble blood in order to be allowed to do so."

Clara took a deep breath as she looked at Tish hesitantly before saying, "I guess that you could say that I am of noble blood where I come from. I am the Lady Alura Selene, acting head of the House of Heartshaven on the planet Gallifrey after the death of my cousin, Romana. They used to call me The Oracle because I always seem to know everything. I am pretty intelligent after all. The name I go by now though is Clara Oswald. That's who I am now."

"What?" Tish asked as she stared at Clara in disbelief.

"Sorry. I was going to explain later," Clara said in a low voice as the men chasing Merry looked impressed.

"A Time Lord from one of their Great Houses. Yes, that is impressive. I don't see why you can't be given custody of the queen then. If she wishes to go with you that is," One of the men said.

"Well, Merry, what do you think?" Clara asked hopefully.

Merry looked at her uncertainly as she asked, "Are you sure? You barely know me."

"Yes, I'm sure. I won't take you in if you don't want to go with me though. It's up to you, Merry," Clara said.

Merry hesitated and then the fact that she knew Clara and knew for sure that she was a sweet kind person who had risked her life for her before finally made up her mind for her. She would gladly pick Clara over someone she didn't know who might not even care about her anytime.

Merry nodded and said, "I'll go with her wherever she goes."

Clara smiled and immediately hugged the little girl as she said, "It's going to be okay, Merry. I'll give you a good home, and I'll do my best to take care of you."

"Thank you," Merry said gratefully as she returned her hug.

"It's settled then. The Queen of Years will be given over to Lady Clara Oswald of Gallifrey. Good luck in your new home, my former queen," One of the men said as the rest of them saluted her and Clara.

Then they turned around and left the time travelers alone.

"Where do you live?" Merry asked suddenly realizing that she didn't know.

"Earth. My old home, Gallifrey, was destroyed in a terrible war. Earth is a nice place too though. You'll love it there. We'll just need to make you a perception filter to hide your appearance since you don't look completely human," Clara said.

"Humans look like you then?" Merry asked.

"Yes, they do," Clara said.

"Are humans friendly?" Merry asked.

"For the most part," Clara said as the Master snorted in derision.

Clara glared at him as the Doctor said, "Humans aren't always that great at times but they can be. They can be the greatest if they really want to be. That's what you always have to remember no matter what, Merry. Humans can be so wonderful when they really want to be."

"Not in my experience," the Master muttered earning him another glare from Clara.

"Tish, are you okay?" Clara asked as she noticed that she wasn't saying anything or even looking at her.

"You're one of them. All this time I thought you were my friend, and you were lying to me," Tish said in a hurt voice.

"I wasn't lying. I used something my people called the Chameleon Arch on myself and made myself human. I didn't remember that at all though until just recently," Clara explained.

"When you opened up your fob watch?" Tish asked amazed.

Clara nodded as she said, "How did you know?"

"Martha told me about it. The Doctor once turned himself human when she traveled with him. I can't believe my best friend was a Time Lord all along," Tish said.

"I'm still the same person that you knew before, Tish. I promise. I also promise that I will never bring any trouble or pain to you. I'll always look out for you and do my best to keep you safe," Clara said.

Tish smiled as she said, "I believe you. I've believed you since you volunteered to take in Merry. That's a very Clara thing to do to help others like that especially children. You're really going to have to tell me all about your past and who you really are soon. I'm sure Martha will be dying to know too. She'll never believe it."

"I'd love to see Martha again. Is she still with Mickey?" the Doctor asked with a smile.

"Yep, I didn't think it would work out either. They seem to be meant for each other though. It's almost as if they were meant to meet," Tish said.

"I can't help but wonder about that sometimes. It makes me think Rose set the whole thing up somehow while she was the Bad Wolf. I wouldn't put it past her," the Doctor said smiling.

The Master looked at him in surprise for a moment but said nothing. He should have known that the Doctor would be connected to the Bad Wolf Girl who had broken him out of the Time Lock somehow and finding out that she was the mysterious Rose Tyler that he had heard him speaking about before when he was Professor Yana was doubly surprising. He decided to keep what he knew to himself for now because the woman had told him not to tell anyone about her for some reason.

"Well, what do we do next, Doctor? Do we keep searching the marketplace?" Clara asked as she held Merry's hand tightly in her own.

"No, Clara. I think that I'll take you home and help you get Merry adjusted to her new life. That's much more important right now. The Master can go wherever he wants to of course in his own TARDIS when I take us back there if he doesn't want to stick around on Earth for too long," the Doctor said giving the Master a not so subtle hint to get lost when they went back.

"I'm not going anywhere, Doctor. I'm spending my day with Clara just as I promised that I would," the Master said.

"You would," the Doctor grumbled.

The Master smiled at him evilly. He still enjoyed making the Doctor squirm immensely no matter how much he had changed these days.

He had to have some vices after all.

"Are we okay?" Clara asked Tish.

"Yeah, we're fine. I still don't trust Time Lords," Tish said.

Clara's face fell until Tish added, "I definitely trust one though."

"Thank you," Clara said.

The two friends then embraced while Merry looked at them with a smile. She had a feeling that she was really going to like living with Clara and that her life was about to change in the best way possible.

**Next: It's time for Martha to find out the truth about Clara and to get reacquainted with the Doctor once more while Merry meets the Maitland children and tries to get adjusted to her new home. Also our trio of Time Lords and their new companions go on their first full adventure together while Clara tells a story about her past growing up with the Doctor and the Master. **


	4. Blast From The Past

CHAPTER 4

I do not own Doctor Who and I am not making any profit off of this.

**Thank you for your favorites and follows and reviews! **

A BLAST FROM THE PAST

Merry pushed a small button on the locket Clara had given her to wear around her neck, and suddenly she looked different even to herself. She looked human just like Clara now, and it upset her at first.

"Merry? Are you okay?" Clara asked her with concern as she saw the upset look on her face.

"This isn't me, Clara. I don't like it. It feels like I'm someone else now. I feel like I'm never going to be myself again. It's like you're so ashamed of me that you want me to be somebody else," Merry said in an upset voice.

"No, honey! That's not true. I don't want you to feel that way. I never want you to feel like that. I just need you to hide your true appearance so that you won't get hurt. This planet isn't really ready for aliens yet. Some people, not all of them but some, would hurt you if they knew that you were from another world. That's the only reason that I'm making you wear the perception filter. I'm not ashamed of you. I'd never be ashamed of you. I love you just the way you are. I don't want you to change not one bit. I just want you to be safe, okay? Do you understand?" Clara asked with tears in her eyes.

Merry looked in Clara's eyes and saw that she meant what she said so she nodded. Then she hugged Clara to show her that she was alright.

Clara smiled and kissed the top of her head as she said, "I'm glad that you understand. Remember that you can't tell anyone who you really are or where you're from, okay? I know that doesn't sound right, but that's the way it has to be. Only my closest most trusted friends can know the truth about you. To everyone else, you're just Merry Oswald, regular Earth girl."

"Merry Oswald. I like that name. It means you're my mother now, doesn't it?" Merry asked.

"Yes, honey, it does," Clara said nodding.

"Does . . . does that mean that I have to call you Mum then?" Merry asked hesitantly.

"No. Not if you don't want to. I'd never make you call me that," Clara said.

Merry nodded as she said, "It's not that I don't want to. It's just that I . . . I'm not ready for that. I still have memories of my family. I'm sorry. I'm not trying to be mean. I just . . . I'm sorry."

Clara smiled at her as she said, "It's okay, Merry. I understand. You don't think of me as your mother. It's okay. It's all happened so quick that I'd be surprised if you suddenly started calling me Mum right away. It's alright. Don't worry."

"Are you sure? The last thing that I'd ever want to do after everything that you've done for me is to hurt you," Merry said truthfully.

"It's okay. I mean it," Clara said in a soft voice as she stroked the little girl's face.

She hugged her then and didn't let go for a while. She enjoyed having a child in her arms, and she could tell that Merry enjoyed having someone to hold her too. She couldn't help but wonder how long it had been since the little girl had last had that.

After several minutes of this, they were suddenly interrupted by the door opening, and Angie and Artie standing there looking at Merry in surprise. Clara hadn't told them about her yet so she knew that they would have plenty of questions about her and vice versa.

Merry became very nervous and hid behind Clara. Clara immediately brought her back out from behind her and held her hand to let her know that everything was okay as she said, "It's okay, Merry. These are my friends, Angie and Artie Maitland. You can trust them completely, alright?"

"You mean I can tell them who I am?" Merry asked.

"Yes, of course you can," Clara said.

Merry smiled and turned off her perception filter as she said eagerly, "Hi, I'm Merry Gejelh and I'm from Tiaanamat. Sorry, I guess I should say that I'm Merry Oswald now. I'm Clara's adopted daughter."

"What?" Angie asked in shock while Artie said, "You're an alien? That's awesome!"

Artie immediately rushed over to Merry in excitement as he said, "What kind of powers do you have? Can you do anything cool?"

Merry smiled, grateful for the attention, as she said, "I have telekinesis and a little bit of telepathy. I'm much stronger with the telekinesis though. I've gotten very good with it."

"I'll say. She once threw me across the room and pinned me to a wall when she got mad at me," Clara said smiling.

"Cool! Can you do that to me?" Artie asked hopefully.

"No, she's not. You're never to use your power on others, Merry. Got it?" Clara said firmly.

"Aw, Clara! Can't she just make me fly? I want to fly!" Artie protested.

Clara laughed as she said to Merry, "Alright. Levitate him off the ground some but not too high and be careful with him, okay?"

Merry smiled as she slowly lifted Artie off the ground and moved him across the room as he flung his arms out in front of him and pretended that he was really flying. He yelled with joy as Merry moved him around seemingly effortlessly. Clara could see that Merry was really enjoying how happy she was making Artie from the look on her face.

Angie meanwhile didn't look so happy. She took Clara aside out of earshot of the others and asked, "Are you sure you're safe? Are you absolutely sure she won't hurt Artie?"

Clara looked at her in surprise as she said, "Of course I am. I'd never take you around anyone who was dangerous."

Angie lifted an eyebrow at that as she said, "What about the Cybermen?"

"That was different. The Doctor didn't let me know everything that was going on or I would have insisted that we leave. I'll never do that to you again. Believe me. Merry is a nice, sweet girl who's having to adjust to living on a new planet with a new species. She's not dangerous in any way whatsoever. I want you to treat her like any other little girl, okay? Don't treat her any different. I want you to be her friend, Angie. She needs one, okay?" Clara said.

Angie smiled and then nodded as she said, "Alright. I'm sorry if I overreacted. It's just that after the Cybermen I tend to freak out whenever I think about aliens. Being around them just makes me nervous."

Clara looked at her skeptically as she said, "I don't make you nervous and neither does the Doctor."

"You two don't count. He's my friend and you're . . . more like family. I just meant that I'm nervous around aliens I don't know. I guess that makes me sound bad but after what the Cybermen did to me I'm just afraid that it'll happen again," Angie admitted.

Clara smiled at her as she said, "Trust me, Angie. That little girl is just as afraid as you are if not more. Up until now my friend Tish and I are the only humans that she's ever met."

Angie smiled at her but didn't correct her mistake of referring to herself as human as she said, "I get the message. I'll be nice to her. I promise."

"Good. Can you two go play with her and try to show her a good time then? I have another friend of mine coming over, and I have to tell her the truth about me. I'd rather tell her about me first and then ease her into Merry later," Clara said.

"That's going to be awkward I bet. Alright, I'll take her and let her play some video games. Wait a minute. Does she even know how to play video games?" Angie asked.

"I doubt she even knows what a television is. She'll get the gist of it quickly enough though. It's just that her technology is so far advanced from yours that it's going to seem very primitive to her," Clara said.

Angie smiled at her as she said, "You sound a little like the Doctor now."

"Well, there's no need to be insulting," Clara said with mock anger.

Then she smiled at her as she said, "Sorry. I'll try to tone it down."

"No, I wasn't complaining. I was just pointing it out," Angie said as she gave her a hug.

"Well, keep pointing it out and keep me human, will you?" Clara asked.

"I will," Angie promised and then left to take Merry to the television and show her about video games while Artie floated along beside them.

Clara couldn't help but laugh at the image of the boy floating next to them as they walked away. Her life was definitely not going to be ordinary in any way from now on. Not that she cared.

Just as the children went off to play video games together, Martha finally arrived with Tish. Clara took a deep breath and then opened the door.

"Hey, Clara. Tish insisted that I come here today because she says that you have something very important to tell me," Martha said.

"That's right. Martha, this might be hard for you to hear at first," Clara said and then hesitated.

"It's okay, Clara. I think she can take it. I mean if I can I know she can," Tish said.

"Take what? What aren't you telling me?" Martha asked starting to get agitated.

Clara took another deep breath and said, "Alright I might as well tell you everything at once. Clara, I'm . . ."

Suddenly the Doctor's TARDIS materialized nearby shocking Martha who looked at Clara and Tish in disbelief as she said, "Is that it? You're traveling with the Doctor?"

"That's only part of it, Martha. Martha, I need to tell you. I'm a . . ." Clara started to say again.

That was when the Doctor opened the TARDIS doors and said, "Martha, hello! It's so good to see you again!"

"I'm going to kill you, Doctor!" Clara muttered under her breath making Tish almost laugh as she heard her.

The Doctor immediately rushed to hug Martha as she looked at him in surprise. He hugged Martha tightly and then pulled away and said, "Oh, yes. I forgot that I regenerated since the last time that you saw me. I'm not Matchstick Man anymore. I'm so much cooler now. I wear bow ties."

Martha laughed as she said, "I can see that. You're definitely the same old Doctor though despite how you've changed on the outside. I can tell."

"That's true, Martha. I'm still the same person that you knew before even if I have changed. I'm still your friend," the Doctor said as he looked pointedly at Clara.

Clara smiled at him now seeing what he was trying to do. Martha caught wind of it too even though she wasn't entirely sure what was going on.

"What are you trying to tell me, Doctor?" Martha asked.

"Good old Martha. You were always so clever. I knew you'd get it right away if anyone would. Clara? Go ahead," the Doctor said.

Martha now looked at Clara expectantly as Clara pulled out her fob watch to show to her as she said, "Martha, I'm a Time Lord."

Martha looked at her in surprise but not in an angry or upset way which Clara took as a good sign as she continued to say, "I'm still the same person that you knew. I promise. Tish told me that you already know about the Chameleon Arch. Well, I used that on myself and became Clara. I've been living a normal human life ever since then until now when I opened my watch recently and remembered who I really am. My real name is actually Alura, and I'm an old friend of the Doctor's. I'm still going to be calling myself Clara though. I plan on staying as her. I've even adopted a little girl. Do you want to meet her?"

Martha blinked and then said, "I can't believe it. I knew you even before I met the Doctor. It's as if I was destined to meet him."

"Seems like it doesn't it?" Clara said grinning.

Martha smiled at her and said, "I'd love to meet your daughter. It's alright, Clara. Don't worry. I can adapt to a lot very quickly. I had to learn how to in order to travel with the Doctor. He takes a lot of getting used to."

"Oi! I do not. I'm very easy to get along with," the Doctor said.

"Of course you are, Chin Boy. Of course you are," Clara reassured him with a grin.

Then she called Merry into the room and even though Martha saw right away that she was an alien it didn't even faze her. She warmly greeted the little girl as she said, "Hello, I'm Martha. I'm a good friend of your new mother's. It's so nice to meet you."

"It's nice to meet you too. I thought that maybe people here wouldn't like me, but you're all so friendly. Humans aren't like the Master said that they would be at all," Merry said with a smile.

Martha's jaw dropped as the Doctor said, "Yeah. I had that reaction too when he showed up again. Wait till you hear the rest of it."

"Did I say something wrong?" Merry asked in an upset voice.

"No, you didn't do anything wrong," Clara quickly reassured her.

Martha could see that Merry still looked uncertain so she said to her with a warm, friendly smile, "She's right. You didn't do anything, okay?"

Merry smiled and said, "Okay."

"Why don't you go back to your game now, Merry?" Clara said.

"Okay. I'm beating Artie and Angie at the same time, Clara. I like video games. They're fun," Merry said in excitement as she ran off.

Clara smiled at her and then frowned as she saw Martha's shocked look.

"Here I thought telling you that I was a Time Lord was going to be the hardest part," Clara said.

"You're hanging around the Master?" Martha said in anger.

"He's an old friend of mine from Gallifrey. He and the Doctor used to be my best friends back then," Clara said trying to explain.

"She doesn't understand, Martha. Tish and I have both tried to explain it to her, but she still doesn't understand what he is now. She still thinks he's the same person he was when we were all young," the Doctor said.

Some of Martha's anger vanished now and was replaced with concern as she said, "You need to listen to them, Clara. He's pure evil. He'll pretend to be a nice man, but he'll stab you in the back in the end to get whatever it is that he wants from you. He did it to my mother. He told her that the Doctor was evil and out to hurt me, and she believed him. It was actually him that was the evil one though."

Clara nodded as she said, "He's told me what he did but that was in the past. He's changed now. He isn't that same person anymore. He promised me that."

"See what we're up against? She wants to believe the best of him," Tish said to Martha.

"There is no best in him," Martha insisted to Clara.

"I think you're wrong, Martha. I believe in him," Clara said stubbornly.

"She wants to go traveling with him," Tish said.

"You're allowing this?" Martha asked the Doctor in disbelief.

"I tried but she won't listen. I'm going along to make sure he doesn't try anything though and so is Tish," the Doctor assured her.

"Well, you can count me in that number too then. The next time you take a trip with him I want to be there," Martha said.

"Okay. It'll be next Wednesday then on my day off," Clara said.

"Good. I'll be here bright and early then. I still don't understand how you can ever think that a man like that would ever tell the truth to you," Martha said.

Clara looked sad for a moment as she said, "He wasn't always the man that you knew. I want to tell you a story, Martha. Once I do, maybe then you'll understand why I won't just give up on him despite what all of you are telling me about him."

**Gallifrey, Centuries Ago**

"Come on, you two! Normally you two are the first ones to want to get into some trouble. Is it because you're protecting me? Is that it? You know I don't approve of that sort of thing. Just because I'm a girl doesn't mean that you have to protect me. I'm as tough as both of you combined. There's absolutely no difference between me and the two of you. We're exactly the same in every way," Alura said stubbornly as she led the way to the Omega Arsenal.

Theta and Koschei looked at each in disbelief as Theta said in a low voice, "You are so not the same as us in every way."

"What?" Alura asked with the hint of a smile on her face.

"Nothing, Lura. I still don't know why you want to break into a collection of dusty old weapons in the Time Vaults for. That's more Koschei's sort of thing than yours," Theta said perplexed.

"Was that a crack against me, Thete?" Koschei asked with a smirk.

"No, it's just true. You've always loved looking at deadly things that could kill thousands or even millions of people. I've always hated them. I hate weapons of all kinds. I used to think that Alura did too," Theta said in a slightly disturbed voice.

"Maybe she's finally grown up and stopped listening to all of you inane talk about peace all the time. Sometimes weapons are necessary, Theta. Sometimes the universe needs a little war or two in order to keep it in line," Koschei said.

"I don't believe that. I think it just needs someone to fix it whenever and wherever it breaks and to make the people in it better than they are. Violence is never necessary," Theta argued.

"You are so naïve. I'm glad that you've finally come around to my way of thinking, Alura," Koschei said with a small grin of triumph.

"I haven't come here because I've suddenly developed a taste for war or weapons, Koschei," Alura said as she stopped before the door of the Omega Arsenal after finally finding it.

"Why did you want to come here then? How do you even expect to get in anyway? It's been locked for several millennia," Theta said.

Alura grinned mischievously as she said, "You forget just how good that I am with computers, Theta. There's nothing that I can't hack."

Alura immediately went to work on the electronic lock and within seconds the door opened for the first time in several centuries. The dust of ages immediately blew in the faces of the three teenaged Time Lords and made them all cough as Alura grinned with delight to see all of the weapons there.

"It's just like in my dream," Alura said as she dashed inside.

"What? What dream?" Theta asked in confusion.

"You never said anything about a dream. Is that what this is about, Alura? Are we doing all of this based on something as silly as a dream?" Koschei asked indignantly.

Alura glared at him as she said, "What's so silly about it? Do you think I'm stupid for doing this, Koschei? Is that what you're saying?"

Koschei immediately looked apologetic as he said in a gentle voice, "No, I didn't say that. I didn't say that at all. I'm sorry, Alura. I just don't want you to get into any trouble."

Alura smiled at him as she said, "You worry too much, Koschei. I've memorized the entire schedule of the guards around this place after studying them for several days. They won't pass by this spot for at least another fifteen minutes. We can be in and out before they even know that we were here."

"I hope so. I don't want you to get into any trouble either. Me and Mr. War over here are used to getting into trouble so it's nothing new to us, but you've got this squeaky clean image so they might be even harder on you if they catch you here. Why do you want to be here for anyway, Lura? Tell me," Theta implored her.

Alura smiled at him as she said, "I love it when you call me Lura. Okay, I'll tell you why we're here if you promise not to laugh. I had a dream. In the dream this woman kept telling me to come here. She said if I came here that I would find out who truly loved me. She said that I would find out who my soulmate was here."

Both Theta and Koschei scoffed as Koschei said, "That's nonsense. It was just a dream. That's all. Besides that there's no such thing as a soulmate."

Alura looked at him in shock as she said, "Do you really believe that? That a person's one true love doesn't exist?"

Koschei hesitated and said in a careful voice, "I'm not saying that I don't believe in love. I do believe that love exists, but I don't think that anyone has a soulmate or one true love that they're destined to be with from the beginning of time. I don't believe in destiny. I believe in creating what we want. We shape our own destiny, Alura, not the other way around."

"What about you? What do you believe?" Alura asked Theta.

Theta looked at her thoughtfully before saying, "I don't know. I've never seen any evidence to support it, but I've never seen any against it either. I'd like to believe that such a thing were possible. I really would. I guess that's just the romantic in me speaking though."

Alura smiled at him and said nothing. Theta smiled back happy that she seemed to like his answer. Koschei meanwhile was mentally kicking himself for what he had said. He couldn't lie to her though.

For some reason, he had never been able to lie to her. Even when he tried to she always saw right through him every time.

"I have to say that this is a weird place to find your true love though. It really would be ironic wouldn't it? Finding love in a place of war?" Theta said chuckling.

Alura stood there in the middle of the arsenal waiting for something, anything, to happen. She stood there in silence for several more minutes, but she had no results.

"What did you expect to happen? Did the dream tell you?" Koschei tried to ask in as neutral a voice as he could manage when it became apparent that nothing was going to happen.

"I don't know. The dream just said to come here. I'm sorry, boys. I guess we should go now. The guards will be here in about five minutes if they stick to schedule," Alura said in a disappointed voice.

"Good. Let's head on out then as fast as possible just in case the guards decide to come down here . . . ," Theta said.

"Halt! Who's in there?" A guard's voice shouted.

". . . sooner," Theta finished with a sigh.

Two Chancellery Guards stood staring at the three young Time Lords with their stasers drawn as one of them said, "Do you realize that you've just broken into a maximum security facility? Why are you here? You'd better have a good answer or all of you are in deep trouble."

Alura started to tell them the truth but to her surprise Koschei opened his mouth sooner as he said, "It's my fault. Theta and I were daring each other to do it. He didn't think that I would, but he was wrong. See, Theta? I opened the door. You didn't think that I could but I did it!"

Theta was surprised at first and then he quickly started to play along with him as he said, "Okay, okay. I can admit when I'm wrong, Koschei. You won the bet, okay? You're officially braver than I am."

"Well, it's good to finally hear you say so. It's always nice to know who your master is, isn't it?" Koschei said smugly.

"All of this was over a stupid bet?" One of the guards said with a smirk.

"That's right, sir. We didn't mean any harm whatsoever. It was just Koschei showing me that he's better than I am. Again," Theta said.

"What about her? What's her role in all of this?" The guard asked as he pointed to Alura.

"She didn't know anything about it until we got here. She didn't even know where we were. I lied to her and told her that I was taking her on a date," Theta said.

"Are you sure that this wasn't an attempt by both of you to impress her?" One of the guards said in a knowing manner.

Koschei immediately caught onto that and went with it as he said, "Alright, you caught us. We were both trying to impress Alura. Only I impressed her more because I actually did it. Didn't I, dear?"

Alura looked at them both in disbelief as they lied more than she had ever seen them do in her entire life. She was surprised at how easily lying came to both of them especially to Theta. She was a bit disappointed in him at that even though she knew that he was doing it to protect her.

"I have to confess something. I'm . . ." Alura started to say.

"You're not interested in either one of us, are you?" Theta quickly said in a disappointed voice.

"See? All of that to impress a girl, and it was all for nothing. Do you know how much trouble that you just got into over her? Why would you do that? Is she really worth it?" One of the guards asked.

Without even thinking about it, Theta said, "I'd do anything for her. She means everything to me."

Both Alura and Koschei looked at him in shock, and then Koschei's shock quickly turned into anger as he glared at Theta for saying it first before he could. The guards now completely believed their story because they could both see that the two of them had feelings for Alura.

They both looked at one another and one of them smiled as he said, "Alright, you three can go. If you ever come down here again though, it'll be a different story."

As the three Time Lords quickly left, Alura continued to look at Theta in shock. It wasn't what he said but the way that he said it. He sounded like he was in love with her.

When they were out of earshot, Alura asked, "Theta, about what you just said did you mean that?"

"Of course I did. You're my best friend," Theta said as if he had no idea what she was hinting at.

"That's all? Is that all I am to you? Just a friend?" Alura asked.

It broke Theta's hearts as he said in a nonchalant way, "You're more than just friends. You're my best friends. You're both practically family. You and Koschei mean everything to me."

Alura tried not to frown as she said, "I'm glad to know that, Theta. It's nice to see how you really feel about me at last."

She quickly left the two boys as Koschei said, "Why did you say that? We both know that you love her."

"She could do so much better than me. She should do so much better. She'll . . . she'll just laugh at me anyway if I tell her the truth, and I don't want to lose her," Theta said in a frightened voice.

"You poor dumb idiot," Koschei said all of his anger at Theta quickly forgotten.

"You can't tell her, Koschei. Promise you won't," Theta said.

"Believe me, Theta, I never will," Koschei said with a sinister smile.

**The Present Day, Earth**

Clara told this story from her own point of view of course and had absolutely no idea about Koschei and Theta's conversation at the end. Once she finished, Martha and Tish both looked at the Doctor with a smile as he turned away in embarrassment.

Clara had no idea what the smiling was about so she ignored it as she said, "See, Martha? That's why I trust Koschei. He almost got into a lot of trouble just to protect me over some stupid silly dream that I had once. Both of my boys did actually."

"Yes, and I'd do it again," the Master said as he suddenly seemed to appear out of nowhere.

They all turned to see him standing there next to his TARDIS. None of them had even heard him arrive.

"You had it set for silent running, didn't you? I hate it when you do that," the Doctor said.

Martha just glared at the Master as she said, "You may have her fooled, but I'll be watching you. You won't get a chance to do anything to hurt her if I can help it."

The Master sighed as he said, "When will you people believe me when I say that I'd never hurt her? Will I ever be able to live my past down?"

"Not if I have anything to say about it," Martha said.

Clara sighed as she said, "Are we going on an early trip or something? You do know that it isn't Wednesday yet, right?"

"I came here because he came here. I don't trust him not to go off with you all by himself," the Master said.

"You don't trust me?! That's a good one!" the Doctor scoffed.

"Boys! I said Wednesday and I meant Wednesday. Now both of you go away and don't come back until then. Got it?" Clara ordered.

Both Time Lords grumbled and pouted until Clara smiled at them and kissed them both on the cheek. They both began to smile again as she said, "Just go on ahead to Wednesday, okay? I'll still be here I promise."

They both left then and as soon as their TARDISes dematerialized, Martha and Tish both burst out laughing. Clara looked at them in surprise as she wondered what on Earth they could be going on about.

"What's so funny?" Clara asked.

"First of all it's hilarious to see you treat the two of them like they're little boys, but more importantly it's funny that you didn't even see just how lovesick that they both are over you both then and now. The Doctor meant what he said, Clara. He loved you and it just came out of him without him meaning it to. Then he covered it up as quickly as he could. That sounds just like him," Martha said.

"No, Martha. You weren't there. He just thought of me as a friend. That's all. I just misinterpreted what he meant and so did you," Clara said.

Martha shook her head as she said, "He loves you just as much as you love him. It's obvious to anybody."

"It's certainly obvious to me," Angie said as she came into the room.

"See?" Tish said with a grin.

"I do love him but he doesn't feel that way about me. Does he?" Clara asked in an uncertain voice.

"He totally does," Tish said.

"You really think so?" Clara asked.

"What are we talking about?" Merry asked as she and Artie joined Angie.

"The fact that the Doctor loves Clara, but she doesn't seem to realize it," Angie said.

"She doesn't? I thought he was her boyfriend," Merry said confused.

"He is. Trust me," Artie said grinning.

"He's not my boyfriend," Clara said with a groan.

The others only laughed at her, and Clara shook her head at them. They didn't know the Doctor like she did. She'd be the first to know if he was really in love with her.

Right?

Wednesday came fast and the Doctor and the Master soon arrived within seconds of each other early that morning. Clara smiled as she realized that they were trying to beat each other there in order to have both arrived as quickly as they did.

Clara was waiting for them along with Martha, Tish, and Merry as the two Time Lords emerged from their TARDISes. The Master sighed at seeing Martha and Tish again. Clara could easily see that he really hadn't wanted them to come along on their first real trip together.

She wanted them to go though. The sooner they saw that he really had changed the sooner that they would leave her alone about traveling with him.

"So where are we going? Did you come up with any really cool ideas while I was away?" the Doctor asked hopefully while everyone piled into his TARDIS.

"Well, I did think of one place. How about New York? I always wanted to go there," Clara said.

The Doctor looked horrified which surprised Clara as he said, "N-no. Not there. Anywhere but there."

"Why not?" Clara asked.

"I just don't want to go, okay? Please pick somewhere else," the Doctor said as he grabbed Clara's hand tightly without even realizing that he was doing it.

"You lost someone there didn't you?" Clara said finally understanding.

The Doctor nodded but didn't say anything more. Clara kissed his cheek and said, "It's okay. You don't have to say anything more. We'll go somewhere else then."

Martha couldn't help but wonder when this had happened. It must have happened after she had traveled with him because he certainly had no problems taking her there.

Clara thought about another destination for a moment and then quickly told the Doctor a time and place. He looked at her in alarm immediately.

"Clara, you can't go there. You can't let her see you. You of all people know that," the Doctor said.

"I'm not going to talk to her or anything. I just want to see her again," Clara said as tears threatened to well up in her eyes.

The Doctor nodded and set the coordinates on the Console as the Master asked, "Where are we going?"

"To see my Mum," Clara said.

The Master looked confused until Tish said, "Her mother died years ago. She wants to see her again one more time."

The Master nodded as he realized that she meant her human mother. He hadn't even thought about Clara becoming that attached to anyone on this world in order to miss them that much. It just showed him that he really didn't know anything about her anymore. He was going to learn though. He was going to learn all about Clara Oswald and what had shaped her so that he could understand exactly why she didn't want to give this particular version of herself up.

The TARDIS arrived in a park where Clara's mother used to bring her when she was little. Clara smiled as she hid behind a tree and watched her mother play with a little girl that she knew was her. As Ellie Oswald pushed the young Clara while she sat in a swing, Clara began to cry.

The Doctor silently took her hand and kissed it as he put a comforting arm around her. She then laid her head on his shoulder glad that he was there for her just as he always had been.

That was when everything plunged into chaos all around them as several Daleks appeared out of nowhere and began immediately firing on the Doctor. The Doctor immediately grabbed Clara's hand and started to run with her while Tish and Martha ran back into the TARDIS with Merry. The Master meanwhile raced after the Daleks in an attempt to protect Clara.

"IT IS THE DOCTOR. EXTERMINATE HIM! EXTERMINATE!" the Daleks cried out together while they chased the two Time Lords.

Clara sighed in relief as she saw her mother and her younger self make it to their car and start to drive away. At least they would be safe. She briefly wondered why her mother never mentioned this to her before her mind was completely absorbed by something else.

Suddenly a blonde woman carrying a huge gun appeared out of thin air in front of them and began attacking the Daleks. She destroyed several of them as she shouted to them, "Run! Get to safety!"

Clara looked at her in complete astonishment as the Doctor said in an almost reverential voice, "Rose."

The Master also stared at Rose in shock as he recognized her immediately as the one who had sent him back to this universe out of the Time Lock. Only this woman seemed different somehow from the one that he had met.

"Do I know you?" Rose asked the Doctor even as she continued to attack the Daleks.

Clara meanwhile just couldn't stop looking at her. This was the woman in her dream from so long ago. She was the one who had told her to go to the Omega Arsenal.

What was going on here?

**Next: What are Rose and the Daleks doing in the past? More importantly where and when is Rose from and will she recognize any of our crew? Find out the answers to that in the next chapter.**


	5. The Moment Has Come

CHAPTER 5

I do not own Doctor Who and I am not making any profit off of this.

**Thank you for your favorites and follows and reviews! **

THE MOMENT HAS COME

Rose looked at the three shocked Time Lords with an incredulous expression on her face as she said, "Will you three quit staring at me and get a move on already? Those Daleks aren't playing around. Go! Go!"

Rose then proceeded to destroy several more Daleks with her gun while the Doctor stared at her in absolute disbelief. He couldn't believe that she was really there. Then he realized by looking at her gun when this must be for her and his hearts slumped.

"You've just started looking for me with the Dimension Cannon haven't you?" He said almost to himself.

Rose looked at him in shock after overhearing him as she said, "Doctor? Is that you?"

"Hello, Rose. You've finally found me but it's the wrong me," the Doctor said sadly.

"No. You can't have changed again. You can't," Rose said as she started to become upset.

"You know her?" Clara asked in a voice that the Doctor could swear had a twinge of jealousy in it even though he knew that she didn't think of him that way.

"She's Rose Tyler . . . an old traveling companion of mine," the Doctor said and instantly regretted his choice of words when Rose looked at him with hurt eyes.

Clara continued to look at her in disbelief. If the Doctor didn't meet her until he left Gallifrey, then how did she wind up in her dream centuries ago back when she was still just a kid. Who was this woman?!

"I thought that I was so much more than that to you. I guess I was wrong," Rose said to the Doctor as she continued to destroy Daleks with her gun.

The Doctor's eyes teared up as he said, "Rose, I . . ."

"No, just say it, Doctor. It's been so long since I've last seen you that you don't have any feelings for me anymore. Maybe you never did in the first place," Rose said as she continued to fight the Daleks even through her tears.

"Can we please stop the soap opera and concentrate on stopping the massive army of Daleks that wants to kill us? Or maybe you actually want to die, Doctor? It doesn't really matter to me either way, but it would devastate Clara," the Master said in an annoyed voice as he used his laser screwdriver to attack the Daleks.

Rose looked at Clara with undisguised jealousy in her eyes as she said, "Clara, eh? So who are you? His wife?"

"Not yet," the Master muttered with a smirk as he destroyed several more Daleks with an enormous look of satisfaction on his face.

"I'm not anything. We're just friends. That's all we ever were. I'm Clara Oswald," Clara said as she looked at her expectantly.

"You act like I should know you or something. I've never seen you before in my life," Rose said in an angry voice.

"Rose, stop it. Clara is not your enemy. The Daleks are," The Doctor said as he chastised her.

Rose's eyes softened as she saw the upset look on Clara's face which she misinterpreted as being because of her words instead of because of Clara's dream. The Doctor smiled proud of her as she immediately overcame her initial jealousy of her when she saw how she was affecting her.

"I'm sorry, Clara. I guess I should have expected him to move on. I mean it wasn't like he was going to wait for me forever was it?" Rose said in a heartbroken voice.

"I'm not his wife. I'm not even his girlfriend," Clara said as she continued to stare at Rose.

"Why are you giving me the look of death like that then?" Rose asked as she continued to attack the now noticeably decreasing army of Daleks who continued to come after her and the Doctor.

"I feel like I've seen you somewhere before. You don't know me?" Clara asked.

The Doctor looked at Clara in surprise and concern as Rose said, "No, I've never met you before. Sorry. You must be thinking about someone else."

"You've never met me either?" the Master asked curiously causing both the Doctor and Clara to look at him with surprise now.

Rose looked at him with a frown as she said, "No, I haven't. I know I'd remember meeting you."

"Why is that? Because I'm so incredibly handsome?" the Master asked as he stood side by side with the Doctor and Rose as they all destroyed several Daleks together in a unified front.

"No, because you're so incredibly creepy and weird," Rose said.

The Master frowned more at her apparent complete lack of recognition of him than at her insult as the Doctor laughed and said, "That's my Rose!"

Rose smiled at him with renewed hope in her eyes as she said, "Really?"

"You'll always be my Rose," the Doctor said meaning it.

Clara's hearts started to ache in that moment even though she knew that she had no claim to him whatsoever. All of this was just too much for her. Another woman had the Doctor all tied up in knots over her, she just happened to look just like the woman from her dream centuries ago, and on top of that she had absolutely no way of fighting the Daleks whatsoever. She felt completely useless while the other three used their sonic screwdriver, laser screwdriver, and planet-sized gun to fight back with respectively.

"Maybe I should start calling myself Useless Girl and just get it over with," Clara said in a depressed tone.

"Clara, are you okay?" the Doctor asked sensing her distress.

"I'm just fine, Doctor. I'm peachy," Clara said with a fake smile on her face.

"EXTERMINATE THE BAD WOLF FIRST. SHE IS THE MOST DANGEROUS ONE HERE," One of the Daleks ordered.

"I keep telling you lot that I'm not the Bad Wolf anymore. That only happened once a long time ago. Are you thick or what?" Rose said in disdain.

"Bad Wolf? Did you say Bad Wolf?" Clara said as her eyes widened even more than they already were.

"Oi! Don't you start with that too!" Rose said.

"Clara, what is it? Did one of your echoes meet her before?" the Doctor asked.

"Not as far as I know. Are you sure that she didn't have echoes too, Doctor?" Clara said.

"Not as far as I know. Why?" the Doctor asked.

"She's the woman that I saw in my dream, Doctor. The one I just told Martha and Tish about. She was the one who told me to go to the Omega Arsenal. It was her! I know it was because the woman in my dream said that one of her names was the Bad Wolf, and her eyes glowed golden when she said it," Clara said.

The Doctor looked at her in shock as he said, "Are you sure? You really saw her back then?"

"Yes, Doctor. It was her," Clara said.

"Do you want to hear something even stranger?" the Master asked.

"I'm honestly not sure," The Doctor said almost dreading to hear what he had to say.

"She's the one who freed me from the Time Lock," the Master said.

"What are you three going on about? I didn't do any of those things," Rose said upset.

"Maybe you did and you don't remember doing them," the Doctor said.

"You mean when I was Bad Wolf? I remember some of that now but not all of it," Rose said looking disturbed.

"Possibly. It doesn't matter now, Rose. That's already over with, and I'm sure that whatever you did it was to help me. I'm still not sure where freeing the Master fits into that though," the Doctor said.

"Maybe she suddenly developed some good taste while she was in her heightened state of awareness," the Master said.

"Believe me. You're definitely not my type, mate," Rose said with a scrunched up nose while she winked at the Doctor.

Clara couldn't help but smile at that. She could see now why the Doctor liked her. She was growing to like her herself even though she might just be the competition for the Doctor's hearts.

Then again since the Doctor didn't care about her in that way why shouldn't she want him to be happy with who he did love? She was determined not to be selfish and stand in his way. She just wanted him to be happy . . . even if it wasn't with her.

"It looks like we've almost got them all, Doctor. That'll teach them to escape from the Void, yeah?" Rose said with excitement.

"They came from the Void? They're the ones that we imprisoned together?" the Doctor asked in surprise.

"That's right. They came to Pete's World first after somehow breaking out of the Void there and started attacking everywhere until I lured them over here to our old universe by telling them who I was. I'm very popular among the Skaro set for some reason. I was so hoping that I'd run into you again once I got over here if I brought a ton of Daleks with me since you always come to stop them, and I'm glad that I was right. Do you know how long I've been looking for you, Doctor? How many worlds that I've been searching for you in? Now I'm finally here at last. I made it, Doctor. I don't even care that you have an enormous chin now. I made it, "Rose said with joy.

She wrapped her arms around the Doctor and hugged him tightly while Clara looked away. She wanted him to be happy. She really did but she couldn't bear to watch this.

The Master didn't watch them either as he finished off the last of the Daleks. He was too busy keeping an eye on Clara anyway. He was beginning to have renewed hope that the Doctor might finally be out of the picture, and he would have her all to himself. Maybe he would have a chance to tell her how he felt about her after all without the Doctor around to stand in his way.

"Rose, I'm sorry but you can't stay with me," the Doctor said in a solemn voice.

"Why? I searched for so long. Why can't I stay?" Rose said in tears.

"This isn't the me that you're supposed to find. You're supposed to meet Matchstick Man not me," the Doctor explained to her in a gentle voice.

"Matchstick Man? I love that and it's so true too that one. So you're from a time after me then? I spent the rest of my life with the other you?" Rose asked hopefully.

The Doctor hesitated only for a second before he said, "Yes, of course you did. You finally got your Doctor, Rose."

Rose smiled from ear to ear at first and then she became sad as she asked, "So I'm gone now?"

"Yes. I haven't seen you in a long time," the Doctor said sadly.

"I'm sorry. I bet we had fun though while it lasted, yeah?" Rose said smiling fondly at him.

"Yes, we did. We certainly did," the Doctor said thinking of the time that he spent with her before Canary Wharf.

Clara couldn't help but be moved by the look of loss on his face. She knew without having to even be told that there was something that he wasn't telling Rose. He wouldn't be that upset if there wasn't. In that moment she lost all traces of jealously left inside of her and felt nothing but sympathy for the Doctor instead. She felt so, so bad for him in that moment because she could practically see his hearts breaking in front of her.

Rose could see it too as she hugged him and said, "It's okay, Doctor. It's okay."

"Yes, it will be okay. It's time for you to go back, Rose. You can't remember what happened here though. I have to remove it from your mind. I'm sorry but I can't take the chance of the other me finding out anything about the future that he shouldn't," the Doctor said.

Rose nodded sadly as she said, "I understand. Go ahead. Before I go though, I just want to say one thing."

The Doctor smiled at having a paraphrased version of his ninth self's last line being thrown back at him. That was just so Rose.

Rose gave him a tender kiss and then said, "You were fantastic. You always were no matter what. Always remember that, Doctor."

Then Rose turned to Clara and said, "Make sure that he does."

Clara nodded as she said, "I will."

She had no idea why she was telling her that though.

Then the Doctor erased Rose's memory of this day and set her Dimension Cannon properly so that she could finally meet the Tenth Doctor on her very next trip back from Pete's World. Then he sent her back home.

"Doctor? Are you alright?" Clara asked as he started to break down in front of her.

"I'm never going to spend the rest of her life with her. A half human clone of me did instead. He was someone who could grow old with her when I couldn't. I thought it would be best that way," the Doctor explained.

Clara nodded with understanding as she said, "I thought that there was something that you weren't saying."

The Doctor looked at her in surprise as she said, "I always know, Doctor. I know both of my boys so well that I always know what they're really thinking at all times. Remember that if you ever try to put one over on me, Chin Boy."

"I wouldn't dare," the Doctor said as he rubbed the tears from his eyes.

"I'm sorry, Doctor. I'm so sorry," Clara said as she put her arms around him and held him tightly while he shook with emotion.

"It's alright. The whole thing just opened up some old wounds. That's all it is," the Doctor said as Clara continued to hold him and gave him a gentle kiss on the cheek while she gently rubbed his back in sympathy.

"I know. It'll be alright though, Doctor. I promise," Clara said.

I'll make it be alright. Clara promised herself as she did her best to mend the Doctor's broken hearts.

That was when Martha, Tish, and Merry reemerged from the TARDIS. They saw the Master standing there watching Clara hold the Doctor with a heartbroken look on his face, and Martha almost felt sorry for him.

Almost.

Martha knew in that moment that the Master finally understood once and for all that he was never ever going to have Clara hold him like that. She was never going to love him the way that she did the Doctor.

The Master never felt more hatred for the Doctor in his life than he did in that moment. Everything in him wanted to crush him into powder.

He couldn't though. He could never bring himself to attack him again because she loved him. He meant what he had said before despite what everyone else thought about him.

He would never do anything to hurt her.

Then something happened next that completely shocked the Master. He felt a small hand take his and realized that it was Merry. Merry held his hand and gave him a sympathetic look.

All traces of anger left the Master as he smiled at the child and gently rubbed the top of her head. From that day forward, Merry would always be special to him and he would do anything for her.

Martha and Tish both watched this in shock as they continuously stared at the Master like a hawk to make sure that he didn't attack Merry. It was an attack that would never come.

As the relationship between the Doctor and Clara grew even stronger and the Master finally realized that not all children were ciphers to him, Ellie Oswald and her young daughter were on their way back home in a near blind panic.

As soon as she got home, Ellie was just about to call her husband Dave and tell him all about the strange creatures that she had seen in the park when a blonde woman suddenly appeared in her home. She gasped in terror as she stood protectively in front of her daughter.

"It's alright. I'm not here to hurt you or your daughter. Go to sleep and don't worry about it, Ellie. Sleep," the blonde said to Ellie as she gently touched her forehead.

Ellie immediately passed out and the blonde caught her. She laid her down gently on the couch in her living room while young Clara watched her in fear.

The blonde smiled warmly at her as she said, "Don't worry. She'll be alright. She'll wake up with no memory of the Daleks and so will everyone else who saw them today. The world isn't supposed to know about Daleks yet after all so I've been pretty busy making sure of that."

"Are you going to put me to sleep too?" Clara asked.

"Yes, but not before suppressing your memories of what happened here today. Don't worry. You'll remember when you need to," the blonde said.

Little Clara looked at the woman strangely for a moment and then said, "I know you don't I? I had a dream about you once didn't I?"

The blonde smiled at her as she said, "Yes, dear, a very long time ago in another life. I've been watching over you for so long now. You and the Doctor. Sleep now, Clara. Sleep and forget that I was ever here."

"W-Who are you?" Clara asked just as the blonde touched her forehead and her world started to go black.

"I am the Moment and my time has finally come at last. Soon you will meet me again and so will the Doctor," the blonde said as she laid the now sleeping Clara down next to her mother.

"Sleep well, Clara," the Moment said as she disappeared without a trace.

**Next: The Doctor and Clara live through the events of the Day of the Doctor only to find out that going off to search for Gallifrey isn't quite the end of that story. Exactly who is the Moment and what is her true connection to Rose Tyler? Furthermore why won't she go away now that her role in saving Gallifrey is over with? The Moment's story and the role that she played in the lives of the Doctor, Clara, and the Master will be revealed in the next chapter. **


	6. Day The Moment Has Been Preparing For

CHAPTER 6

I do not own Doctor Who and I am not making any profit off of this.

**Thank you for your favorites, follows, and reviews! **

**This chapter takes place in the aftermath of The Day of the Doctor.**

THE DAY THE MOMENT HAS BEEN PREPARING FOR

Soon after their encounter with Rose, the Doctor, Clara, and the Master soon found themselves caught up in an incredible adventure where they finally had the chance to undo the Doctor's greatest regret. Clara had actually convinced the Doctor and two of his past selves that they met along the way to rewrite history and save Gallifrey. Even the Master had helped because although he had his differences with the Time Lords it had still devastated him to learn that Gallifrey was gone and his people had been destroyed.

The three Time Lords working together with the other Doctors managed to actually pull it off and hid Gallifrey in another universe. Even they didn't know where it was though, and now they would have to find it and bring the Time Lords back home even if it took centuries.

Afterwards, they had all gathered together back at the Curator's gallery where they stared in fascination at the strange 3D painting called Gallifrey Falls as the two past Doctors prepared to say goodbye. None of them had the slightest clue that things were about to change for them forever.

"I don't care what Alura thinks about him, you can't trust him especially around her. Watch over her and keep her safe," The Tenth Doctor said to the Eleventh.

"I will. Don't worry, Sandshoes. I've even enlisted Martha and Tish Jones to help me. I ran into them again, and they're both friends of Clara. Isn't that so cool?" the Eleventh Doctor said.

The Tenth Doctor smiled with relief as he said, "Oh, well my future is definitely in safe hands then. I know I can depend on Martha to do things right. Good old Martha. I wish I could have seen her again. Are she and Tish alright then?"

"Yeah, they're doing just fine. It turns out that we didn't quite ruin their lives after all. Tish has Clara's daughter taking care of her right now as a matter of fact until we come back. I think they've actually been convinced by the way he reacted to Merry more than anything that he actually had changed. I told you about Merry, right? Martha even got married to Mickey. I suppose that's good, isn't it?" the Eleventh Doctor said with a huge grin.

"Of course it's good. So Martha and Mickey. Good for them. I'm glad for both of them," the Tenth Doctor said happily.

Clara meanwhile was watching the War Doctor who still looked sad despite the good news that they had received that day.

"What's wrong? I would have thought that you'd be happy. Gallifrey is safe, and the Time War is over," Clara said as she walked over to him.

"I know and I am happy about that, dear Alura. I just realized that when I go back to my own time that I'll no longer remember any of this. I won't remember meeting you again, saving Gallifrey, or the Bad Wolf Girl who helped me. I would have liked to have known who she was based on. She must be someone from my future because I would have remembered meeting someone like her," the War Doctor said.

"Bad Wolf Girl?" Clara asked in disbelief.

The Tenth Doctor's ears perked up as he said, "Did you say Bad Wolf?"

Both the Tenth and the Eleventh Doctors made it across the room to the War Doctor's side so fast that they made everyone else look like they were moving in slow motion and then the Tenth Doctor said, "Was this girl a pretty blonde with almond colored eyes?"

The War Doctor nodded as he said, "So we do get to meet her. She must be something very special to us because the Moment obviously took her form for a reason."

"The Moment took Rose's form? Why didn't you tell us this?" the Tenth Doctor asked in disbelief.

"She didn't want me to. She didn't want the two of you to know that I hadn't made the decision to use her yet. I don't know why you're making such a big fuss out of this. It's not like she was really the person that you knew anyway," the War Doctor said in a perplexed voice.

"They miss her, Doctor. She was very special to them, and then they lost her," Clara explained.

"I doubt that she was as special as you," the War Doctor said causing Clara to blush and the other two Doctors to turn bright red and look away in embarrassment.

"Oh, I cannot believe this. Someone shoot me now," the Master grumbled under his breath.

"Always jealous, Koschei," An old man with a cane who looked very familiar to the Master said as he walked into the room.

The Doctors all looked at him in disbelief because he looked like an older version of their fourth self. They stared at him in silence while Clara just stood there with her jaw hanging open as she said, "Doctor?"

The old man looked at her with bright shining eyes and a warm loving smile that covered his entire face as he said, "Hello, Clara. I'm the Curator."

"Oh, get off it. You're the Doctor and you know it," the Master scoffed.

The Curator smiled enigmatically but said nothing.

He walked over to the painting instead and said, "I can see that you've all been admiring this. That's a very special painting you know. It was donated to the gallery by someone who loved it just as much as you do. Do you know what it's called?"

"Yes, either Gallifrey Falls or No More. I can't help but think that Captain Grumpy named it. It sounds as depressing as he is," the Eleventh Doctor joked.

The War Doctor scowled at him while the Curator did his best to conceal a knowing smile.

Clara noticed this immediately and she walked over to the Curator and took his hand as she said, "It has two very different possible names, but no one seems to know which one is the right one. Do you know what it's really called?"

The Curator smiled at her while the rest of the men in the room gave him death glares as he said, "Yes, of course I do, my dear. Everyone's gotten it completely wrong all of this time. It's actually called Gallifrey Falls No More.

The Doctors all brightened up now as the Eleventh Doctor said, "Then that means I did it. I saved Gallifrey. That has to be it. So I have to go looking for it next then, right? Is that what I'm supposed to do?"

"No, Doctor. You don't have to worry about finding them. What you have to worry about is them finding you," A very familiar voice said.

They all turned to see a woman who looked like Rose but who wore torn futuristic looking clothing that they knew wasn't Rose's style at all. She watched them with a warm smile on her face as she waved at them.

The Master looked at her in complete surprise as he instantly recognized the woman who had freed him from the Time Lock. He idly wondered if she had done that yet or not. He decided to remain largely silent around her until he knew for sure so that he didn't accidently undo his own past somehow.

"That's her. That's the Moment's interface. She's the one who helped me. Thank you so much for that, my dear. You kept me from making a very terrible mistake," the War Doctor said in a grateful voice.

"I'm always there for you when you need me, Doctor," the Moment said.

"Rose?" the Tenth Doctor asked with an extremely sad look in his eyes.

The Moment seemed to vanish and then instantly reappeared next to him with a sympathetic look on her face as she said, "Yes and no, Doctor. I'm not the real Rose. She's on Pete's World right now with the Metacrisis. I am a part of her however. When she was the Bad Wolf, she left me behind to help you."

"Help me with what?" the Eleventh Doctor asked as the Moment put a comforting arm around the Tenth Doctor.

"Many things, Doctor. I've helped you and your two friends much more than you know, and I'm going to continue to do so now that the Time Lords are searching for you," the Moment said as she gave the Tenth Doctor a tender kiss on the cheek.

"Don't do that," the Tenth Doctor said as he gently moved her arm away from his shoulders.

"Don't do what?" the Moment asked confused.

"Don't pretend to be her. It isn't right," the Tenth Doctor said upset.

"I'm not trying to do anything but comfort you. I don't like seeing you upset, Doctor. She's happy now you know. She foresaw that happening when she was the Bad Wolf. She foresaw everything that was to come in the future for you too, and she saw that you would have such a hard road ahead of you once she left. She wants you to be happy too, Doctor. That's why I'm here. She made me and based my personality on her own then she left me here to keep you safe and to make sure that you had a happy life too. Basically she wanted me to take care of you, and that's exactly what I've been doing. Helping you to rewrite your greatest mistake was only the latest example of that," the Moment said.

"Listen, I don't know what game that you're playing here, but pretending to be her is not going to win you any points with me. In fact, it's only going to make me even angrier. You have no right to pretend to be her. None whatsoever," the Eleventh Doctor said in a furious voice.

The Tenth Doctor almost smiled as he said, "I guess you haven't forgotten everything after all."

"Some things I'll never forget. I don't want to. No matter how much they hurt me," the Eleventh Doctor responded with immense sadness in his eyes.

Before she realized what she was doing, Clara immediately put her arms around him and gave him a tender kiss on the lips. She had only meant to comfort him and nothing more, but it still shocked both of them.

Clara immediately pulled away from him in embarrassment as she said, "I, uh, I just wanted to, uh . . ."

"I know. You just wanted to calm me down because I was upset. That's all, right? Thank you, Clara," the Eleventh Doctor said.

He hadn't wanted Clara to be any more embarrassed than she already obviously was so he had simply finished her sentence for her. He already knew that he could never be loved by anyone as wonderful as her so it never even entered his mind why she was really embarrassed.

"Yes, that's all it was," Clara said sadly.

It was obvious that he didn't see her as anything but a friend, but she couldn't help how she felt about him. It still hurt her when he rejected her though even though she knew that he didn't realize that was what he was doing.

The Master meanwhile just felt like punching the Doctor out, all of them, for being such massive idiots.

The Moment looked at Clara sadly and became determined to get them together just as Rose had wanted her to do as she said, "I never meant to upset you, Doctor. I was just telling you the truth about myself."

"You told me that you were the interface for the Moment," the War Doctor said.

"That's right. Why did you tell Granddad one thing and me another one for? That sounds like lying to me," the Eleventh Doctor said suspiciously.

"Will you stop calling me Granddad! You're older than I am," the War Doctor complained.

"I'm young and handsome though and much cooler too," the Eleventh Doctor said smugly.

"You're much more humble as well," the Moment said teasing him.

Eleven and Ten both looked at her in surprise as that sounded just like something that Rose would have said. They were both starting to believe her about who she was just a little bit more now.

"Why don't you go ahead and tell them the whole story about yourself, my dear? I really should leave and continue to take care of the gallery anyway. I have so much still left to do even as old as I am," the Curator said.

Then before he could leave, he turned to the Eleventh Doctor and said, "To answer your earlier question, I'll tell you what I'd do if I were you. I'd search for Gallifrey until I found it, but I'd also be ready for all of the trouble that will bring. There were good as well as bad things about the Time Lords after all. Sometimes we can sugarcoat how things really were in the past in our minds you know especially when we've lost something. That's what I'd do anyway if I were you. Of course I might have already been you or you might have already been me. Who knows?"

"I know, you bloody . . ." the Master said before trailing off when Clara glared at him.

Clara then grabbed the Curator's hand before he could go and whispered, "Goodbye, Doctor."

The Curator smiled at her and gave her a kiss on the cheek before slowly walking away.

As soon as the Curator had left, the Master sneered as he said, "Well, I don't know who he thought that he was fooling. I know the Doctor when I see him."

"Button it, Koschei, before I teleport you into the sun," the Moment said as she momentarily glowed with the power of the Vortex making the Master cringe and the Doctors grin.

Clara began to wonder with sudden dread just how much like Rose that this woman really was.

As soon as the Curator got out of earshot of the others, the old man said, "You can come out now, dear."

A Clara much older than the one that he had just left suddenly emerged from hiding to smile at him and gave him a tender kiss on the lips as she said, "I'm glad that part's over with. It made me squirm seeing just how uncomfortable that we used to be around one another. I wanted to slap the both of younger us. I'm so glad that we eventually got over that, aren't you?"

"Oh, definitely, my dear. I don't know how I could ever been so blind for so long as to not see that you loved me as much as I love you. I think it was just that after losing Rose that I felt as if I could never be that lucky again," the Curator admitted as he kissed Clara.

"What was your excuse before that when we were children?" the older Clara asked.

"I was always a bit slow," the Curator said.

Clara laughed and kissed him again without commenting as the two of them walked by Kate Stewart who smiled at them as she passed them. She was keeping more secrets about the Doctor's future than he would ever know in order to preserve his timeline for him. She knew that her father would want it that way.

Back in the gallery the War Doctor began to feel extremely weak, and he knew that his time in his current body was coming to an end.

The Moment seemed to sense this as well as she said, "I think you should go now. You shouldn't be here when it happens."

The War Doctor looked at her in surprise as she said, "Don't worry about what's coming, Doctor. It'll all be alright in the end. Oh, and you will get that kiss. It'll take you a while though. You and I both were always a bit thick especially when it came to revealing how we really felt to someone. Good bye, Doctor."

Then she gave him a quick but surprisingly tender kiss on the lips that completely surprised him as she winked and said, "Think of it as a preview of coming attractions."

With an embarrassed and yet oddly self-satisfied look on his face, The War Doctor immediately said his goodbyes to the others who he noticed looked at him with undisguised jealousy and then paused before Clara and gave her a kiss on the cheek which she returned. Then he surprised her by suddenly embracing her and holding her tightly for a moment.

"I'm sorry. It's just that I know that I won't get to see you again for a long time," the War Doctor said apologetically.

"That's alright. I understand," Clara said.

The Moment shook her head. Clara still didn't get it and not even her kiss with the War Doctor seemed to make her jealous as she had intended. She would have to try harder.

"Blimey, Clara. You're almost as thick as the Doctor," the Moment said to herself.

"Tell me about it," the Master said having overheard her.

The War Doctor quickly left knowing that his regeneration was near. Then it was time for the Tenth Doctor to say his goodbyes as he and the Eleventh exchanged a few words about Trenzalore and how he didn't want to go there. Before he could leave though, the Moment got in-between him and the TARDIS.

"You won't remember this in a minute, but I wanted to tell you something. Rose was happy, and she had a good life. Don't ever regret leaving her there. Not for a moment," the Moment said.

The Tenth Doctor smiled and said, "Thank you."

Then the Moment surprised herself by suddenly hugging him tightly. When she pulled away, she said quickly to cover it up, "That was from Rose. Good bye, Doctor."

The Doctor smiled at her and then returned her hug as he whispered, "I think you're more Rose Tyler than you think. Good bye."

The Moment had to fight the urge to kiss him and not just because she wanted to make Clara jealous. She couldn't do that though. Rose wanted her to bring the Doctor and Clara together not fall in love with him herself.

She suddenly grabbed Ten and gave him a longer kiss than she gave the War Doctor and one filled with much more passion. Then she suddenly stopped herself before she went too far and said, "That was from Rose too."

The Tenth Doctor grinned from ear to ear as he smiled smugly. His smile quickly turned to sadness though as he entered the TARDIS. Then he left and the Moment felt a sudden sadness of her own for some reason. She wasn't Rose and yet it still hurt her deeply to see that particular Doctor leave her.

She was so caught up in her own emotions that she never saw just how angry that Clara looked at her for a moment. For a brief second, Clara had given her a look filled with pure fury.

The Moment managed to quickly collect herself as she said to the three remaining Time Lords with her, "Come on. It's time to tell all of you the truth about me at last. Let's get into your TARDIS."

The Eleventh Doctor hesitated. She looked and acted like Rose, but he still wasn't sure about her yet. He wasn't sure if he should let her in his TARDIS or not.

The Moment sensed this as she said, "If you still don't trust me, just look into my mind, Doctor. Look into my mind and see how I really feel about you."

"I wouldn't do that. It's a trap," the Master warned.

"Oh, so that's the thanks that I get for saving you, Koschei?" the Moment said.

The Master looked at her in triumph as he said, "So it was you! You're the one who freed me!"

"That's right. Not that I'm getting any gratitude for it. If the other two didn't need your help, I'd send you back there too," the Moment said.

"You still can if you'd like," the Doctor said causing the Moment to laugh.

"Doctor, stop it. No one's sending Koschei anywhere," Clara said as she gave the Moment a firm look of defiance.

"I was joking, Clara," the Moment reassured her.

"I wasn't," the Doctor said causing the Master to visibly shake with anger at him.

"So, Doctor, do you want a look around my mind or will you just take me at my word and let me on the TARDIS?" the Moment asked.

The Doctor hesitated as he looked in her eyes and studied them.

Suddenly he clutched his chest and fell to the floor. He just lay there unmoving with a look of agony on his face. The Moment and Clara both looked at him in horror as they screamed his name.

"Can you help him? You have some kind of powers or something. I know you do because you invaded my dreams and you put me and my mother to sleep once. I remember that happening now. Please do something," Clara said in alarm.

"I'll do my best. I'd never let him die if I could help it. I care about him too," the Moment said as she started to visibly become upset.

The Master just rolled his eyes. He couldn't believe that both women were so crazy over the Doctor. He wasn't going to say anything snarky though because he could see that Clara was extremely upset. He put a comforting arm around her instead, and she instantly grabbed his hand tightly. He could tell that she was completely terrified, and this immediately made him feel guilty about his earlier thoughts. He wouldn't want Clara to go through this much pain for anything.

The Moment glowed briefly with power as she touched the Doctor's chest. Then her look of concern instantly morphed into one of anger, and she slapped the Doctor in the face as hard as she could!

"Why did you do that?" Clara asked in shock.

"He's faking! There's nothing wrong with him. It was a bloody test to see what I'd do and if he could trust me or not!" the Moment raged.

"What?!" Clara said in anger as she saw it was true when the Doctor immediately yelled in pain and got up rubbing his face.

The Doctor felt terrible as he saw the pain and anger on Clara's face and said, "I'm so sorry to have worried you like that, Clara. It seemed like a good idea in my head at the time."

"Really?" Clara said with absolute anger.

Then she slapped the other side of his face that the Moment hadn't slapped as hard as she could. The Doctor screamed again as Clara stormed away from him in a complete rage.

"That seemed like a good idea at the time too," Clara said.

"I'm sorry," the Doctor said in such a sad voice that Clara and the Moment turned to look at him for a moment with a softened expression on their faces.

"Don't fall for his act, Clara. He just callously put you through a living nightmare without even caring how it would affect you. He doesn't deserve you," the Master said.

"I just wanted to see if the Moment could be trusted. I wasn't thinking. I'm sorry, Clara. I would never hurt you on purpose," the Doctor said.

Clara hesitated and then she immediately went back to him and said, "If you ever do anything like that again, it's over between us."

"I won't. I'm sorry," the Doctor said as he immediately put his arms around her and hugged her.

When she could feel him shaking with terror, she knew that he was telling the truth and immediately forgave him. The Moment smiled at the two of them as they held each other. She was honestly happy for both of them and didn't feel a moment of jealousy which surprised her.

The Master however just sighed and began to wonder if he should stop traveling with the other two. He was sure that he was never going to have Clara in his life as anything but a friend now. Then again he would rather have her in his life as a friend then not to have her in it at all.

"So does anyone care what I have to say or what?" the Moment asked with a grin.

"Alright, alright. Let's all go into the TARDIS then," the Doctor said as he finally pulled away from Clara.

Only the Moment seemed to notice that he only let her go very slowly and reluctantly.

"Yes, you can both hold each other in privacy in there," the Moment joked.

The Doctor and Clara both turned bright red as everyone entered the TARDIS. The Doctor wouldn't even look at anyone as he quickly put in some coordinates, and the TARDIS dematerialized.

"Now that everyone's properly embarrassed, I'll tell you a story. It's my story. Like I said earlier, I was created by Rose when she was the Bad Wolf. She made me out of the consciousness of the Moment by tweaking it to fit her personality and appearance. Then she made me able to exist independently of the weapon itself if I wanted to by giving me a body made out of Vortex energy. I took advantage of this quite a bit once you three were born. I've been watching the three of you all of your lives in secret without allowing you to see me," the Moment said.

"Why though?" the Doctor asked.

"Rose wanted me to. That's why. She wanted me to protect you and Clara from a terrible threat that she saw coming your way soon after you find Gallifrey again," the Moment said.

"Why help us save it at all if we're going to be endangered as a result of it?" the Master asked.

"Rose wanted me to help the Doctor undo the one thing that he regretted the most. It was her final gift to him. Can you honestly say that you wouldn't save Gallifrey no matter what happened as a result of it?" the Moment asked.

The Master was silent as the Moment said, "I thought so. There will be consequences to saving the Time Lords though especially for Clara. They're going to sense you now, Clara, and they're going to come for you."

"What? Who is and why?" Clara asked alarmed.

"You know why," the Moment said.

Clara began to look very afraid as the Doctor asked, "What is it? What's wrong, Clara?"

"It's time to tell them, Clara. I've tried to help you suppress your abilities your whole life in order to keep you from being found out. I'm still doing it even now, but even I can only do so much. You've only got stronger since you've gotten older though so you're almost impossible to hide now," the Moment said.

"What are you talking about? Alura has no hidden abilities. I would have known about them if she did. They might have escaped the Doctor's limited senses but never mine," the Master said confidently.

"You have noticed them though, Koschei. Or have you never realized how you can never lie to her or how easily she sees right through you? Ask yourself how she always knows what you're thinking or why she was so confident that you had reformed. It isn't just because she knows you and the Doctor so well. It's because she knows. She can know exactly what both of you are thinking at all times when she wants to and get a general sense of it even when she doesn't," the Moment said.

"Clara, is what she's saying true? What is she talking about?" the Doctor asked.

"Please. I don't want to talk about this," Clara said to the Moment in an upset voice.

The Moment immediately embraced her as she said, "I know. I've kept your secret for so long that this seems wrong to me too like I'm betraying you somehow. We have to tell them though, Clara. They have to know so that they can keep you safe. Rose wanted me to keep both you and the Doctor safe."

"Clara?" the Doctor asked in a questioning voice.

The Moment let her go and Clara then took a deep, calming breath before she said, "I'm a powerful telepath. Actually from what I've read, I'm probably the most powerful telepath that's ever been born on Gallifrey. I can read the mind of anyone no matter how powerful their mental shields are. I don't read anyone's mind on purpose though. I always respect people's privacy. I usually shut my abilities down almost completely so that I only get surface readings where I can just get occasional stray random thoughts or general feelings from people at times. I've never intentionally read either of your minds I promise. I would never do that to you. It's much more than that though. I can also see the past and the future of a specific person, place, or thing when I want to, and I mean their specific future and not just all possible futures like normal Time Lords can. I never use it though because I don't want to. It's terrifying. I don't want to know the future."

The Doctor and the Master looked at her in complete shock as the Doctor said, "So you're a psychic. A psychic with incredible power. I've never heard of even a Time Lord being able to tell the exact future just the most likely one or we might get a slight glimpse into the future that comes at random or through dreams. I can see why you wouldn't want to use that. I don't think I would either."

"I would. Can you imagine the power that such a gift could bring you? You could take over the entire universe with it and change the future however you wanted it to be," the Master said with glee.

"Exactly and that's what someone will want to do with it. They will want to use Clara to enable them to achieve complete and total control over all of time and space. Who could stop them if they had someone who could predict every action of their enemies and who could read their every thought and know their every secret? If Clara was evil, she could have already taken over the entire universe by now. Our future enemy knows that," the Moment said.

"Who and how do they find out about her?" the Doctor asked.

"Obviously it's one of the Time Lords, you idiot," the Master said in disdain.

"Koschei," Clara said in anger.

"It's Rassilon, Doctor. Rassilon will detect Clara as soon as the Time Lords find their way back to this universe, and he'll head straight towards her. You'll never be able to hide her from him once he returns because her power has grown too strong," the Moment warned.

"If she's so powerful, why was she never detected before?" the Doctor asked curiously.

"I created a powerful psychic shield around her mind on the day that she was born that no one could break through in order to protect her. I established a mental link with her in order to do it that she never knew about that I used to appear in her dreams sometimes when I wanted to check up on her. Her power has only gotten stronger and stronger though over the years. Even hiding in human form wouldn't protect her now from being found out as long as she held onto her watch. So with the time coming for the Time Lords to return, I had to make a choice. Either I destroy her watch and make her human forever or I use her experience being exposed to your timestream to help me reawaken her mind and cause her to become a Time Lord again so that she has a fighting chance to save herself. If I picked the first one, I'd be letting Rose down because she wanted me to protect Clara so I went with the second choice," the Moment explained.

What she didn't say was that Rose wanted her to ensure that the Doctor and Clara became a couple because she wanted Clara to take care of the Doctor and make him happy in her place. She couldn't do that if she died as a human could she?

That was also why the Moment had appeared to Clara in her dreams and told her that she would find out who her true love was by going to the Omega Arsenal. She had set up that whole situation by using her power to make the guards come by there earlier than usual in order to force the Doctor into revealing his true feelings for Clara. She had hoped that by doing that that it would make her job to get them together in the future just a little bit easier.

It had worked but then the Doctor had botched it by making Clara think that he just thought of her as a friend. Clara never read his mind either even though she easily could have so she never knew any differently. Getting those two together seemed to be almost impossible because they were both so thick when it came to reading each other.

"Why did you help me? What did that have to do with your plan to protect Clara?" the Master asked the Moment out of curiosity.

"I freed you because when the chips were down you protected the Doctor. You defeated Rassilon and stopped him. You showed that you could be a good man when you really wanted to be. You also showed how much you cared about Clara on the day that you risked your entire future by lying to protect her from the guards. I brought you back to protect her, Koschei. She'll need both of the men who love her to keep not only her but the entire universe safe. I'm going to stay with you too to make sure of that. The four of us together should be able to handle the Time Lords when they do return. I hope," the Moment said.

"That's very reassuring," the Doctor said as he put a protective arm around Clara without realizing it.

"I'm not exactly helpless you know or have you forgotten how many times that I've saved your life?" Clara said as she pulled away from him in anger.

The hurt look on the Doctor's face immediately made her apologize as she said, "I'm sorry. I just don't want to be thought of as some defenseless wallflower that needs to be protected all the time. That's not who I am."

"I know that, Clara. You're one of the strongest, bravest people that I've ever known. I just can't help but want to protect you because I . . ." the Doctor said.

"I know," Clara said in a soft voice as she gave him a small kiss on the lips in gratitude.

The Moment smiled as she thought that maybe they were finally getting through to each other after all. Maybe she'd have those two together yet.

As the Master watched them and saw the happiness on Clara's face as she looked at the Doctor, he promised himself that he would keep Clara safe from Rassilon and allow her to have a happy future with the Doctor if that was what she really wanted. All he wanted was for her to be happy no matter who it was with, and Rassilon was not going to take that away from her. Not if he had anything to do about it.

Rassilon had ruined his life, but he wouldn't ruin Clara's. He would die before he would allow that to happen.

"So how long do we have until the Time Lords return?" the Doctor asked the Moment.

"I don't know. It shouldn't be long though until Rassilon finds a way to bring them back. It'll just be a couple of months at the most even if I keep you from going back to Trenzalore," the Moment said.

"You can prevent me from ever having to go there?" the Doctor asked in surprise.

"I'm going to try. I don't want you to die there either, Doctor. I have quite the job ahead of me. I have to save both you and Clara," the Moment said.

"You can do it. If I believe in anyone, I believe in you," the Doctor said.

"You believed in Rose but I'm not her, Doctor. I'm just an echo of her just like one of Clara's echoes. I'm not really her," the Moment said.

"I think you're wrong. I think you're more Rose Tyler than you want to admit," the Doctor said as he unconsciously echoed his previous self's words to her earlier that day.

"So where are we going next, Doctor? I'd like to continue to have normal trips with my two boys until and unless I know that Rassilon has returned. I don't want to live the rest of my life in fear just waiting for him to come back. He'll have won if I do that," Clara said.

"I completely agree. I say that we continue with our Wednesday visits just like usual. Next time I'm going to finally take you to one of my favorite places in the universe. Barcelona," the Doctor said grinning confidently.

"I've heard that one before," the Moment said grinning at him skeptically.

**Next: Martha, Tish, and Merry return and this time Martha brings Mickey with her as they all meet the Moment. I wonder how that will go. Oh and the Doctor may or may not take Clara to Barcelona. I'm betting on not. Here's a hint about what happens in the next chapter. The Time Lords aren't the only ones who would want Clara if they found out about her powers, and someone has just found out about her very recently. Can you guess who? Plus Tish starts acting very oddly. What's that about?**


	7. The Battle For Alura Begins

CHAPTER 7

I do not own Doctor Who and I am not making any profit off of this.

**Thank you for your favorites, follows, and reviews! **

THE BATTLE FOR ALURA BEGINS

As the TARDIS doors opened to let Clara back out until the next Wednesday, the three Time Lords faced a pressing question. Where was the Moment going to stay until next week?

The Moment herself answered this question for them as she stepped outside with Clara and looked around at her home with a huge grin of satisfaction on her face. Then she looked at Clara with a hopeful look that also held a trace of fear.

"So you want to stay with me? Is that it, Wolf Girl?" Clara asked with a warm smile.

"Yeah, I'd really like that if I won't be too much trouble. I want to stay near you as much as possible so that I can protect you. Is that alright? I swear that I'll keep out of your way as much as possible. You won't even know that I'm here," the Moment said.

Clara smiled as she said, "Well, I do have to admit that I kind of like the idea of having more time to get to know you better. I also like the idea of having another adult around to help me with the kids. Alright, Rose. You can stay."

The Moment frowned making Clara look at her in surprise as she asked her, "What is it? I thought you'd be happy about getting to stay here. Don't tell me that you've changed your mind already."

The Moment smiled as she said, "No, I am happy about that. Thank you for letting me stay here, Clara. It's just that you called me Rose."

"What's wrong with that?" the Doctor asked curious as to her response.

"I'm not Rose. I never will be. I'm not even human," the Moment said.

"You seem human to me. That was a very human reaction when you saw Clara's home just now. You were happy to be back in a nice normal human home again weren't you?" the Doctor asked.

"Yeah. I've missed that. It's nice to be in normal surroundings for a change. It's nice to at least pretend that I'm human sometimes even if I'm not," the Moment said.

"Why?" the Master couldn't help asking.

"I'm a part of Rose Tyler even if I'm not her, and being human is a very important part of who she is. That makes being human important to me too," the Moment said.

"It's very overrated to me. I was human once and I definitely don't miss it one bit. You're so much more than what they are. I'd be glad that I wasn't one of them instead of wasting time wishing that I was one," the Master said.

"I liked being human too, and I agree with her that staying connected to the human side of her is very important. It's important to me too. Like it or not, Koschei, I am Clara Oswald now not Alura. I'm just not that person anymore," Clara said firmly.

The Master looked at her sadly for a moment until she gave him a kiss on the cheek and said, "I'm still your friend though, and I always will be. Nothing will ever change that. As long as you don't mind being friends with someone who actually wants to stay human that is."

The Master smiled at her as he said, "I'll make an exception in this case."

"Good. I'd hate to ever lose you," Clara said.

The Moment watched the two of them together with a smile as she envied Clara so much now for having two such good friends. She remembered that Rose used to have two best friends as well. They were called Shareen and . . .

The front door of Clara's house opened just then, and the Moment forgot herself for a brief instant as she rushed towards the entrance. She immediately wrapped her arms around the man who was now standing there with a shocked look on his face.

"Mickey!" the Moment shouted with joy as she hugged him tightly.

The Doctor couldn't help but laugh at her because she looked and sounded exactly like Rose in that moment. Even Mickey seemed to think so as he looked at her with a huge smile on his face.

"Rose! How did you get back? I thought that you were trapped back on Pete's World forever now. That's what Jack told me anyway," Mickey said as he eagerly returned the Moment's embrace.

Clara could now see Martha, Tish, and Merry joining Mickey. The Jones sisters had been taking Merry out for a day of shopping for some new clothes for her and a bit of bonding with their new goddaughter.

Clara could see from the surprised look on Martha's face that finding the Moment here was the last thing that she had ever expected.

The Moment had her eyes closed and a large smile on her face as she hugged her, no Rose's, best friend. As she remembered that Mickey was Rose's friend and not hers, she quickly pulled away from him with an apologetic look on her face.

"I'm sorry. I'm not Rose. I forgot who I really am for a brief instant. I hope that I didn't upset you," the Moment said to Mickey.

Mickey now looked at her in absolute puzzlement as he asked the Doctor, "What's wrong with her?"

"I know it's hard to believe, but she's really not Rose. She's an energy being with Rose's personality and memories. She calls herself the Moment," the Doctor explained.

"So you're like a copy of her?" Mickey asked the Moment in disappointment.

"Yes, just a copy. That's all I'll ever be," the Moment said sadly.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you," Mickey said.

He couldn't help but apologize to her because she looked and acted so much like Rose. He still had to keep reminding himself that she wasn't her because part of him still didn't want to believe that.

"You didn't. Don't worry about it. You've actually made me very happy just by being here," the Moment said as she gave him one of Rose's face wide grins.

"What kind of name is the Moment? Don't you want a real proper girl's name?" Merry asked suddenly.

"Merry! You're being rude," Clara said admonishing her.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be. I'd just hate to be called something silly like that," Merry said.

"What's wrong with it? It's just as good a name as the Doctor," the Doctor said pouting.

"You're right. It does sound like a Time Lord name. Maybe I should pick another one," the Moment mused as she lightly rubbed the top of Merry's head.

"Oi! What's wrong with Time Lord names?" the Doctor protested.

"The Doctor is not a proper name. How many times do I have to tell you that?" the Moment said with a mischievous grin.

"Are you sure that's not Rose?" Mickey asked Clara.

Clara grinned and shrugged as she said, "I'm sure she's not the original Rose, but the jury's still out on whether she's really Rose or not."

"So that's the legendary Rose that Mickey and the Doctor are always going on about, huh? She's alright I guess, but I don't know what all the fuss is about. She's a bit common, isn't she?" Tish said.

"You're jealous," Martha said grinning at her.

"I am not. I just don't see it is all," Tish said dismissively.

That was when Rose suddenly stiffened and began to glow with power. Tish backed away from her in fear as she said, "I apologize. I'm sorry."

"It's not you, Tish. I think she senses something nearby," Martha said.

"How do you know?" Tish asked.

"I can sense it too. I have an ominous feeling going doing my spine like someone just walked on my grave. The last time I felt it was when . . ." Martha said.

Then she was stopped in mid-sentence as the Moment suddenly yanked her and Tish out of the doorway just seconds before a Dalek appeared there in their place. Clara immediately grabbed Merry's hand and raced for the TARDIS with her as the Dalek raced after her.

"IT IS THE TIME LADY ALURA. SHE MUST BE CAPTURED ALIVE SO THAT WE CAN USE HER POWER TO BECOME UNSTOPPABLE. ALL OTHERS ARE UNNECESSARY AND SHOULD BE EXTERMINATED," the Dalek shouted.

Suddenly several more Daleks appeared inside of Clara's home as they began rushing after her. They began to open fire on her now as she picked Merry up in her arms and raced towards the still open doors of the TARDIS with her. Before she could reach them however, a Dalek suddenly got in-between her and the TARDIS blocking her escape.

"No!" Clara said as she looked at Merry in alarm.

"HALT! DO NOT MOVE! DO NOT MOVE!" the Dalek in front of her ordered.

The Doctor watched in horror as Clara and Merry were quickly surrounded by Daleks on all sides. He was already cut off from her by a massive wave of them who seemed to have poured into the house out of nowhere and was being driven further and further back by the moment. There were simply too many of them. With a sinking feeling in his hearts, he knew that he would never reach her in time.

The Master meanwhile was in a deadly clash with the Daleks nearest to him as they had suddenly decided that he was too dangerous to remain alive. Several of them had surrounded him in a deadly ring of death and were continuously opening fire on him as he tried his best to get away from them.

He would be no help to Clara either it seemed.

"Clara, are we going to die?" Merry said in a frightened voice as the Daleks continued to come closer and closer to them while they shouted at them to surrender.

"Not if I can help it," Clara said.

Without consciously wanting to, she immediately saw ahead a full minute into the future and knew exactly what each Dalek around them would do. She could foresee that they were about to stun her with their gunsticks and then take her unconscious body away while Merry screamed in fear. She wasn't about to let that happen.

Without warning, Clara suddenly pulled out her own copy of the sonic screwdriver and used it to fling all of the Daleks surrounding her backwards all at once. Even as she grinned in triumph, she foresaw another group of Daleks coming at her in the next few seconds and still shooting her down as soon as she tried to enter the still beckoning TARDIS that was now just inches away from her.

Knowing exactly where each of her future assailants would be at that moment, Clara used her sonic to cause all of them to fly into each other even as they rushed towards her. They all fell to the ground with sudden screams of surprise and fear as Clara now raced towards the TARDIS with absolute confidence. She knew that none of the Daleks would be able to reach her in time now.

She had already foreseen it.

As soon as Clara was inside, she snapped her fingers and shut the doors. Then she set Merry down while quickly checking her over for injuries. Satisfied that Merry was fine, Clara then set the TARDIS in motion as she dematerialized it.

"Where are we going?" Merry asked in an excited voice.

Clara smiled at how quickly her daughter was beginning to enjoy this and take to it, and then smiled again as she realized that this was the first time that she had thought of her as her daughter. She immediately turned on the monitor and began to set coordinates as her hands flew across the console while she watched the Daleks and the others moving around outside.

"In about three minutes, the Doctor, the Master, the Moment, and the others are all going to be corralled into the middle of the room and surrounded by the Daleks. They're going to try to kill them all at once at that moment. I have to get there right before they do and materialize the TARDIS around them. It's going to take split second timing," Clara explained to Merry.

"Do you think you can do it?" Merry asked anxiously.

"It'll be easier than making a soufflé," Clara said with a confident grin.

Merry smirked at her as she said, "Forget I said that. I can do it, Merry. Don't worry."

"I'm not worried. Not as long as you're here," Merry said smiling at her with a serene look on her face.

Clara smiled at her and kissed her forehead in appreciation as she said, "Thank you, sweetheart."

While Clara waited for the perfect moment to materialize the TARDIS, Martha looked at the empty space where the TARDIS used to be in disbelief. She knew that Clara would never abandon them, but it still brought a lump to her throat to see her only means of rescue just disappear like that.

Now the only protection that Martha, Mickey, and Tish had was the Moment's force field, and it seemed to be shimmering and threatening to buckle more and more as each Dalek blast hit it. Martha couldn't help but wonder just how much longer that it was going to last.

"Don't worry. She has a plan," the Moment told her as she saw the worried look on her face.

"I know. I just wish she'd hurry up with it. I don't suppose you have a plan do you?" Martha said with a hopeful smile on her face.

"Waiting on Clara is my plan. Don't worry. This is all going to work out. I hope," the Moment said.

"That makes me feel so much better," Tish said with a groan.

Then something happened that Clara hadn't foreseen because she was only getting a brief glimpse of the future due to still having a subconscious fear of using her full power. A Dalek finally broke through a crack in the Moment's force field and flew straight towards a screaming Martha. It seemed as if Martha was going to be shot down mercilessly in the very next second.

That was when something incredible happened.

Tish ripped a Dalek gunstick out of the casing of a dead Dalek nearby and began firing it right at the eyestalk of the dive bombing Dalek. The Dalek died instantly right before it would have reached Martha as the blast from the gunstick in Tish's hand went straight through the eyestalk and hit the Dalek inside through its attachment to it.

The Moment immediately rebuilt her force field and then waited for what she knew was about to come. She could already feel that Tish was no longer the same even if the others didn't realize this yet.

"How did you do that?" Martha asked Tish in disbelief.

"Yeah. Have you been taking shooting lessons and not telling us?" Mickey asked.

Tish dropped the gunstick in horror as she said, "I - I don't know. I didn't even know how to use one of those things a minute ago."

"Well, you must be a fast learner under pressure then," Mickey said.

"Y-Yeah, I guess that's it," Tish said suddenly shaking all over in fear.

Then she went stiff and her eyes bulged out in terror as she suddenly gasped in surprise.

"Tish, are you alright?" Martha asked with concern.

"Martha, I hear someone talking to me in my head. Am I going mad?" Tish said in a frightened voice.

"No, that's not when you're mad. You'll know that you're mad when you start actually talking back to them. Sometimes it's not so bad even if you do though. I often have to talk to myself because I'm the only intelligent conversation available in the room," the Doctor said as he and the Master finally joined the others.

"I'm adding self-deluded to the long list of things that I hate about you, Doctor," the Master muttered in annoyance.

"You should talk! With a name like the Master, you have no right calling anyone self-deluded," the Doctor said grinning evilly.

"Clara loves him. Clara loves him," the Master kept repeating to himself in a low voice as he tried very, very hard not to attack him with his laser screwdriver.

"This isn't funny, okay? I'm hearing someone talking to me in my head and telling me to open a watch," Tish said in a panicked voice.

The Doctor and the Master both became alarmed immediately while Martha started to shake in fear. She immediately started searching through every pocket in Tish's clothes as Tish watched her in disbelief.

"This can't be happening. It's not true. I know it's not. I'm not one of you! I know I'm not!" Tish shouted in absolute terror.

That was when Clara finally materialized around them all. She yelled in triumph and then immediately dematerialized in the very next moment. She then collapsed on the floor and gave an immense sigh of relief.

"I did it," Clara said grinning madly.

"Yes, you did. I knew you could do it. My Impossible Girl always comes through for me in the end. Always," the Doctor said as he picked her up off the ground and gave her a tight hug.

"Go ahead. Tell me how cool I am, Chin Boy," Clara said proudly as she wrapped her arms around him and kissed his cheek.

"You're the coolest person I've ever met, Clara Oswald. And the most beautiful," the Doctor said making Clara catch her breath in surprise.

Then before either of them realized it they began to kiss. They kissed for an entire minute before they finally pulled apart and stared at each other in disbelief.

What was that?

That was the question that quickly passed through both of their minds at once, but they were both too afraid to say it out loud. They both began to act like it had never happened even as everyone else in the room except the Master stared at them with a smile on their face especially the Moment.

Then they were all distracted as Tish pulled a fob watch out of her pocket and held it out in front of her in horror. Martha began to immediately break down in tears at the sight of it.

"Tish, don't open it. Please! I don't want to lose you," Martha said in a terrified voice as images of Professor Yana and the Master flashed through her mind.

"Martha, I'm afraid," Tish said as she recoiled from the watch in horror and held it as far away from her as she possibly could.

"Tish, give it to me," Clara said as she held out her hand for it.

Tish practically threw the watch at Clara and then burst into tears in Martha's arms. The two sisters held each other tightly as they both shook in absolute terror.

"There's no need to get so upset, you two. You might be one of the good ones like Clara," the Doctor said as he tried to console them.

"And she might be like the Master. I can't take that chance. I'll lose her forever then. I won't let that happen. I won't. I'm sorry because I know that she's one of your people, but I can't let that happen. She's my sister and I love her. She might not be my sister anymore at all if she opens that," Martha said between sobs.

"I won't open it, Martha. I won't. I promise. I'll never open it. Clara can keep it forever as far as I'm concerned," Tish said as she sobbed away herself.

"She would still love you even if she did open the watch, Martha," Clara said.

"How do you know that? Did you see the future?" Martha asked.

"No, it's because I know who she really is. I can sense her mind inside of the watch," Clara said as she held it in the palm of her hand.

"Who is she?" Martha asked not being able to help herself.

"Don't say it. I don't want to know. I'm still not sure it's even real. I think it's someone playing some kind of sick trick on me. That's it, isn't it? It has to be," Tish said in a state of denial.

Clara put the watch in her pocket and said, "I'm going to hold onto it and keep it safe, okay? You can have it back when you're ready for it, Tish. Alright?"

"You can keep it. I don't want it," Tish said with absolute certainty.

"I don't think that you'll forget your sister or who you are now. I didn't," Clara said.

Tish continued to shake her head no as Martha held onto her tightly afraid to let her go. Mickey meanwhile just continued to watch the whole thing in shock.

"I can't believe that she's a Time Lord," Mickey said to the Moment.

"Why do you think I brought the two of them together for? Or did any of you really think that it was a coincidence that two of the Doctor's companions already knew each other before either of them ever met him?" the Moment said as Clara, Tish, and Martha all looked at her in shock.

"You knew?" Tish asked in anger.

"I know exactly who you are, but I'm not going to tell you. I'll let you discover that for yourself in your own time," the Moment said.

"Who is she?" the Doctor asked.

Clara whispered it in his and the Masters' ears, and both of them looked at her with surprise. The Doctor started to smile as he said, "I guess that explains a few things then."

"Explains what? What are you babbling about now?" Tish said in an extremely upset voice.

"It's alright, Tish. It's going to be okay," Clara said in a reassuring voice as she wrapped her arms around her.

Even as Clara consoled Tish, a large strange looking man in a trenchcoat walked through the ruins of Clara's home and silently cursed to himself in an alien language. He had just missed her.

The man pulled out a communications device and said, "This is Commander Stor. I'm sorry to say that those accursed upstarts at warfare, the Daleks, arrived here just before I did. The Lady Alura has already left the house before I had a chance to capture her thank to their meddling. I am now awaiting new orders."

"Stor, remain where you are. We must now execute our contingency plan. Our intelligence states that the Lady Alura has a strong attachment to her human family so we know that she will return to them sooner or later to check on their safety especially after this latest Dalek attack. That is when you will be waiting for her. You are to capture her father alive and keep him unharmed until she returns. You will trade his safety for her agreement to lead our forces to a final decisive victory against the Rutan Host. With the Oracle of Gallifrey at our command, we cannot lose. Soon we will achieve a final victory at last! Sontar-Ha! Sontar-Ha! Sontar-Ha!" General Styx shouted back to him over the communicator.

"Sontar-Ha!" Commander Stor said back to him as he switched the device off.

Then he proceeded on foot to the house of Dave Oswald, Clara's human father. Soon they would have her completely at their mercy, and once they did no one would be able to stop them. With Alura at the head of their armies, the Sontarans would be invincible!

**Next: Clara returns to Earth to find herself caught right in the middle of the Sontarans' horrible trap against her. Will she be able to free herself and her father or will she become the Sontarans' slave? Don't think that the Daleks are gone from the picture either. They'll be back as well. Meanwhile as everyone fights to capture Clara for their own purposes, Clara receives the shock of her life as she comes across the very last person that she ever expected to see again. It may not be the happy occasion that she's expecting though. Plus more clues about who Tish really is.**


	8. A Completely Unexpected Return

CHAPTER 8

I do not own Doctor Who and I am not making any profit off of this.

**Thank you for your favorites, follows, and reviews! **

A COMPLETELY UNEXPECTED RETURN

Clara landed the TARDIS right in the living room of her father's house not long after she left her own home. She knew that she would have a lot of explaining to do, but she had been in too much of a hurry to get there before the Daleks did to worry about that.

She sighed in relief as she saw on the monitor that he was standing there alone looking at the TARDIS in absolute amazement. He was alright.

As soon as she opened the TARDIS' doors, she said, "Dad, I know this is going to be hard for you to understand but . . ."

"Clara, run!" Dave Oswald suddenly shouted.

Clara looked at him in surprise as she hesitated for a single moment. That moment proved to be crucial as Commander Stor suddenly appeared out of nowhere and put a large gun to her head.

"You were invisible I see," Clara said not bothered in the slightest.

"Of course. Your concern for the human overrode your natural instincts or you would have detected me the moment that you left your TARDIS, Time Lord. Now it's too late and you've fallen into my trap. Let us hope that your thinking is much clearer when you lead our battalions into battle against the Rutan scum that have plagued my kind for so long," Stor said.

"As if I'd ever lead you! I'd rather lead the talking jellyfish any day over a bunch of walking potatoes," Clara said with a smirk.

"You'll have no choice. You will either lead us or watch the human that raised you die horribly," Stor said as he pointed to a bomb wired to Dave's waist that Clara hadn't even noticed until now.

"I must really be slipping," Clara said with chagrin.

Stor laughed as he said, "Your concern for him has blinded you to all of the dangers around you. That seems to be your primary weakness, Lady Alura. I'm so grateful that I was able to use it to achieve a tactical advantage over you. Now the choice is yours. Do you agree to help us or do you watch the human die?"

"So you really are an alien. I didn't want to believe it at first when he told me, but a blue police box suddenly materializing in my living room definitely convinced me. Ellie and I always wondered where you came from even though ultimately we really didn't care. We were just so glad to have you. After so many failed attempts to have a child suddenly receiving you on our doorstep was like the answer to our prayers," Dave said.

"Dad, there's so much that I need to tell you," Clara said.

"There's no time for that now. You have to tell him no, Clara. Leading some war somewhere for the rest of your life isn't who you are, and I'd rather die than to be responsible for that happening to you. Let him do what he wants to me, Clara. Just go. Go now," Dave said.

"There is no choice. I'll kill both him and you if you attempt to leave," Stor warned.

Suddenly the bomb strapped to Dave disappeared in a burst of golden light as Stor looked on in disbelief.

"What?!" Stor shouted.

Then he felt a finger tapping him on the shoulder and turned around to see the Doctor standing there with a jelly baby in his hand as he said, "Hello, I'm the Doctor and luckily for you this is Universal Exchange Day. I'll tell you what. I'll exchange that big nasty gun of yours for this delicious jelly baby that's fresh out of the bag. What do you say?"

Stor pointed the gun at the Doctor as he said, "You are the Doctor! I will receive a hero's welcome if I can kill you! For the glory of Sontar, you must die!"

"So you're not a fan I take it," the Doctor said with a large smile.

Suddenly Stor was knocked out cold as the Master punched him in the face. Stor hadn't even noticed him because he had been wearing one of the Doctor's homemade perception filters around his neck while he slowly walked towards him.

"Ordinarily, I'd congratulate him on his good taste, but he deserved that for threatening Clara," the Master said with a smirk.

"That was absolutely brilliant teamwork. We've still got it, Koschei. Here's your jelly baby as a reward," the Doctor said as he tried to hand the small candy to the Master.

The Master glared at him and the Doctor said, "Fine. That's more candies left for me then."

"You just had to buy him the jelly babies, didn't you?" the Master said to Clara.

"It wasn't me. Tish bought them," Clara said.

"I bought them for Merry not him. I used to like them when I was little," Tish admitted.

"Yeah, she did. Mum was constantly having to take them away from her because she was afraid that she would rot her teeth on them," Martha said with a fond look on her face.

"Well, you're not rotting Merry's teeth with them," Clara said with a smile.

"Clara, what do you want me to do with this?" the Moment asked as she suddenly appeared holding the bomb that had been around Dave's waist.

"Maybe you could give it to that Dalek who's about to come in the front door," Clara said.

"I like the way you think," the Moment said with an evil grin as she opened the door and threw the bomb at the Dalek who had been about to burst through it.

"ALERT! ALERT! UNEXPECTED ATTACK!" the Dalek said in alarm just before the bomb went off blowing it and several of the Daleks behind it into pieces.

"That's what you get when you miss with the girl who can see the future!" Clara said with a smirk.

"Where was this power of yours a minute ago when you landed us right into a trap?" Tish asked.

"It doesn't always work when my mind is too clouded with emotion like when I'm worried about someone," Clara admitted as she embraced her father.

"Why are all of those aliens after you, Clara? What is going on?" Dave asked in confusion.

"It's a really long story, Dad. Why don't I tell it to you later? Right now I have to get you out of here before someone else tries to come after you next. Besides that you still haven't met your granddaughter yet," Clara said as she led him towards the TARDIS.

"Granddaughter?" Dave said in even more bewilderment.

All of them rushed into the TARDIS and the Doctor dematerialized it as Merry walked up to Dave and said, "Hello, I'm Merry. Clara adopted me and gave me a home when I had nowhere else to go."

Dave's confused look turned into one of pride as he said, "That sounds like her alright. It's so nice to meet you, Merry."

He then started to pick her up when she said, "Wait. There's something that you need to know first."

She switched off her perception filter and said, "I'm an alien. Is that okay?"

Dave smiled as he said, "It doesn't matter to me. I seem to have good luck with aliens."

He then picked the little girl up and embraced her as Clara said, "You're taking all of this a whole lot better than I thought you would."

"I think that the full impact of it may not have hit me just yet. It still doesn't feel quite real yet. All that really matters to me right now though is that you're alright, Clara. I was worried sick that I was going to be the cause of getting you killed when you walked into a trap by coming to visit me. Somehow I'm really not surprised that your boyfriend is an alien though. That explains so much about him," Dave said as he looked at the Doctor

"He's not my boyfriend," Clara said just a little too quickly.

"You could have fooled me," Dave said smiling.

"Everyone else thinks that he's her boyfriend too. Clara and the Doctor are the only ones who don't think so," Merry told him.

"He's not my boyfriend," Clara said again in exasperation.

"Sometimes the ones who are in love are often the last ones to know," Dave explained.

"That's silly. Shouldn't they be the first?" Merry said giggling.

"Not always. I remember being in love once, and I didn't even realize it until after the man that I had fallen for was already gone. I couldn't even tell him how I felt because an entire universe was dividing us," Tish said sadly.

"I've been there before. I mean Rose has anyway," the Moment said.

"Tell me about it. I was terrified that Rose was going to have a heart attack because she became so upset when she lost the Doctor," Mickey said.

The Moment smiled at him as she said, "Naw, she's a lot tougher than you think. Even she didn't know just how tough until after all of that happened to her though."

"What are you talking about, Tish? When was this?" Martha asked in surprise as she ignored the exchange between Mickey and the Moment.

"When was what?" Tish asked with a blank look on her face.

"What you just said about being in love with someone who you couldn't tell because an entire universe was keeping you from him? When did that happen? That was when you were a Time Lord wasn't it?" Martha asked.

Tish looked at her with an upset look on her face as she said, "I don't even remember saying anything. I thought that that kind of thing would stop when you took the watch away, Clara."

"Not always. Your memories have been awakened now so they're going to come to you sometimes when you least expect them," Clara said.

"Then nothing can stop it? I'll change whether I want to or not?" Tish asked in alarm.

"No, I didn't say that. You can still hold it off forever if you want. It's just that nothing can stop the memories from leaking in now that you know the truth. I'm sorry but that's the way that it is, Tish," Clara said.

Tish nodded and said nothing as Martha put a comforting arm around her. Clara's hearts really went out to her in that moment and it made her finally wonder if maybe she should tell the Doctor how she truly felt about him whether he felt the same way or not. She still wasn't sure yet though.

"I feel so lost right now," Dave said as he watched all of this in complete confusion once more.

"My life almost seems like a soap opera doesn't it, Dad? Mind you I do look like someone who was in that one soap once. You remember the one don't you? We used to watch it together when I was younger," Clara said with a grin.

"Oh, yes. That was the one with your favorite actress in it wasn't it? You liked her because she looked so much like you. Now she's on that science fiction show isn't she? It all seems oddly appropriate now as if it's mirroring your life somehow," Dave said thoughtfully.

"It does doesn't it?" Clara said laughing.

"Science fiction? Soap opera? Now I'm the one who's confused," Merry said with a perplexed look on her face.

"Merry doesn't know much about human culture yet except video games. She loves video games. Don't you, sweetie?" Clara asked.

"I love them, M – Clara. It's so much fun to beat both Artie and Angie every single time at them," Merry said happily.

"She's smart, my Merry," Clara said proudly.

Dave looked at her already beaming away over her daughter and was so glad to have gotten to see that moment. He just wished that her mother could have been there to see it too. He wondered to himself just how she would have felt to know that she was an alien. He was sure that it wouldn't have bothered her any more than it had him. In fact, she might have adapted to it even quicker.

Then his thoughts of the past were rudely interrupted as the TARDIS began to shake violently. Clara raced to the console to find the Doctor and the Master already running around it frantically adjusting the controls. She gasped as she realized the full extent of what was going on.

"Clara, what is it?" Martha asked as she began to feel an odd sense of deja vu.

"It's the Daleks. They're following us through the Vortex and attacking us with one of their time machines," Clara said.

"The Daleks have a TARDIS?" Martha asked in surprise.

"Well, I wouldn't insult my old girl by comparing that piece of junk that the Daleks have to her, but it's their version of her anyway. It's nowhere near as good as the real thing though. Is it, Sexy?" the Doctor said as he stroked the console lovingly.

"Why don't you marry her and get it over with, Doctor?" Clara said in a jealous voice.

"I'd prefer it if he did actually. They deserve one another," the Master said with an evil smile.

"Don't listen to the mean man, Old Girl. He's just jealous that his TARDIS doesn't have the same relationship with him that we've got," the Doctor said to the console.

"Is he quite right in the head?" Dave asked Tish.

"I wonder sometimes," Tish said laughing.

The TARDIS shook yet again much more violently then before and knocked several of the crew over. Clara now joined the other two Time Lords at the console as the three of them raced across it in an all-out effort to try to keep the TARDIS one step ahead of the Dalek time ship at all times.

"The Dalek ship has weapons doesn't it? It has weapons and we have nothing," Mickey realized in horror.

"Yes, it has weapons but it doesn't matter because the TARDIS' force field is still up. At least it is so far anyway," the Doctor said.

"If we had taken my TARDIS instead of this bucket of rusty old bolts, we would have weapons too. We could fight back against them then. We're practically sitting ducks in this piece of junk. It has no weapons at all, the force field is mediocre at best, and it's already about to fly to pieces at any time because it's so old. A well-placed sneeze could take it down," the Master complained.

"I'm sorry about that, old girl. Yes, I agree. He doesn't know what he's talking about. You're still the most beautiful thing that I've ever seen," the Doctor said to the console.

Clara coughed loudly as she said, "Can you stop sweet talking to the Old Cow already, Doctor?"

"Jealous, Clara?" the Doctor said joking.

The anger on Clara's face said it all, and the Doctor instantly backed down the second that he saw it. There was no more talking to the console from that moment onward.

"I agree with you, Grandfather, they're definitely in love alright," Merry whispered to Dave who laughed at her.

Somehow it felt natural to have her call him Grandfather, and he didn't even blink at all. The two of them were instantly bonding already to his immense surprise.

"YOU WILL SURRENDER TO THE DALEKS AND LEAD US TO TOTAL UNIVERSAL VICTORY, ALURA, OR YOU WILL NEVER BE REUNITED WITH YOUR MOTHER," A Dalek voice said over the console.

"What?" Both Clara and Dave said together.

Clara became enraged as she said, "My mother is gone. You can't threaten me with her, you monsters! There's no way that you can touch her without completely unraveling the Web of Time."

It briefly occurred to the part of Clara that thought of herself as human just how weird it was for her to be the one saying that kind of thing now. That thought was mostly drowned out by the torrent of anger that the Daleks had just unleashed in her as it opened up an old wound in her soul that had never completely healed over.

"YOU ARE VERY MUCH MISTAKEN, TIME LADY. WE CAN DO WHATEVER WE WISH. THE DALEKS ARE THE MASTERS OF LIFE AND DEATH!" The Dalek voice shouted.

Then Clara's hearts seized up as she heard a voice that she thought that she would never hear again.

"Clara, is that you? Where am I? Please help me, Clara!" The unmistakable voice of Ellie Oswald said in a terrified tone.

Clara began to make a gasping noise as if her air supply had been cut off, and she realized that she was having a panic attack. She was having an extremely hard time breathing now.

"Clara, it's a trick. They're trying to lure you into a trap," the Doctor said as he immediately wrapped his arms around her in silent support.

"Agreed. They're preying on the part of you that's still human and trying to use it against you," the Master said.

"It couldn't be her, Clara. She's gone. She's safe from them," Dave reassured her.

"Dave? Dave, help me!" The voice of Ellie now called out.

"Stop it! Stop tormenting us!" Dave screamed in anger.

"WE HAVE HER, ALURA. SUBMIT TO THE WILLS OF THE DALEKS OR WE WILL KILL HER AGAIN," The Dalek voice now said.

"It's not real. It can't be!" Clara said in a voice filled with pain.

Then she ripped herself from the Doctor's arms and dived toward the console. She forced the TARDIS to land at a random location before anyone even realized what she was up to. She was already out the doors before the Doctor or anyone could stop her.

"Clara!" the Doctor screamed in alarm as he raced after her.

"What's she doing? How could she be so foolish?" the Master asked in disbelief.

"It's called being human, Koschei. Maybe you should try it sometime," Tish said as she ran outside as well.

"What did she call him?" Martha asked in surprise.

"That's one of his other names," the Moment said but she didn't comment any further on how Tish knew it.

Clara waited outside patiently as the Daleks landed their time ship and quickly surrounded her in all directions. The Doctor caught up to her just in time to be trapped right along with her.

"Why did you do that?" the Doctor asked in disbelief.

Clara looked at him with tears in her eyes as she said, "I had to know if it was really her or not. I'm sorry. I just had to."

The Doctor smiled at her and wrapped his arms around her as he said, "It's alright. I understand."

"Clara," The voice of Ellie Oswald said and made Clara freeze in her tracks.

She slowly turned toward the sound of that voice and almost screamed as she saw her mother standing there with an extremely sad expression on her face.

"Clara, it is you but you're older now. I don't understand. What's happening? I thought that I died. I remember dying," Ellie said.

'Why are you doing this?" Clara said to the Daleks in a voice filled with pain.

"This is cruel even for you," the Doctor said to them in an outraged voice.

"NOW! CAPTURE THE TARGET! OBEY!" One of the Daleks ordered.

"I obey," Ellie said as an eyestalk came out of her head and a gunstick came out of her hand.

She then shot Clara and the Doctor with the gunstick and knocked them both out cold.

"MOVE HER INTO THE SHIP NOW. MOVE. MOVE," One of the Daleks ordered the other ones.

Before they could though, the others from the TARDIS crew finally reached them, and the Master began attacking them. Dave meanwhile starred at Ellie in horror.

"Who are you? What are you doing posing as my wife? I know that you could never be her now. My wife would never hurt her child! Never!" Dave shouted.

He didn't see the tears that began to fall from Ellie's eyes as he said this.

As the Master and the Moment joined forces to attack the Daleks in an attempt to rescue the Doctor and Clara from the Daleks, the Sontarans arrived.

"We have finally tracked them down, sir. Now do we attack while Alura is vulnerable?" One of the Sontarans asked General Styx.

"Yes. Go now. Distract the others and then send in an extraction team to take Alura while the Daleks and the others are being kept busy," General Styx ordered.

Even as the Sontarans began to join into the mix, things were made even worse as the Ice Warriors now suddenly appeared out of nowhere as well. They began to attack everyone else as one of them slowly moved toward Clara under the cover fire of the other Ice Warriors.

This lone Ice Warrior now gently picked up Clara and began to carry her off before he was stopped by a small army of Cybermen. The Cybermen all began to fire on the lone Ice Warrior as he dodged all of their incoming fire while protecting the unconscious Clara from it.

"Surrender the Time Lady to us now or you will be eradicated," the Cyber Leader warned.

"I wouldn't be so sure of that if I were you. I am Grand Marshal Skaldak and this woman is under my protection. I owe her for helping me to keep my honor when I almost threw it away in despair, and I intend to repay that debt by saving her from all of those who now seek to enslave her. No one will touch her now that I am here. Keep away from her or I will rip you all apart!" Skaldak shouted as he challenged them all.

**Next: It's all gotten pretty crazy hasn't it? It's the battle of the century as the Daleks, the Cybermen, the Sontarans, and the Ice Warriors all fight for the future of Clara while Skaldak, the Doctor, and the rest of Clara's friends and family all struggle to keep her safe. Meanwhile what about the woman who claims to be Ellie Oswald? Who is she anyway? Could she really be Ellie?**


	9. Who Will Win The War For Clara Oswald?

CHAPTER 9

I do not own Doctor Who and I am not making any profit off of this.

**Thank you for your favorites, follows, and reviews! **

WHO WILL WIN THE WAR FOR CLARA OSWALD?

The Daleks, Cybermen, and Sontarans all stared down Skaldak as he issued his challenge to them. To the Moment, it was almost like one of the westerns that she, no Rose, used to watch on television where two gunslingers were staring each down before they both reached for their guns. Any moment now she knew that a firefight was about to begin, but for a brief second the forces gathered there to capture Clara were all too afraid of Skaldak to take the first shot.

Then finally the Daleks broke the stalemate as they began to fire first. The others soon followed, and Skaldak was joined by his fellow Ice Warriors in battle as a full-scale war finally broke out over who would gain control over Clara.

Now as the four armies tore into each other, their respective leaders all delivered their own version of a pep talk to motivate their forces.

"EXTERMINATE THEM ALL AND TAKE THE ORACLE! WITH HER AS OUR STRATEGIST, WE WILL BE ABLE TO FINALLY SWEEP ACROSS THE UNIVERSE WITH NO OPPOSITION WHATSOEVER. SOON THE ONLY FORM OF LIFE THAT EXISTS IN THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE WILL BE THE DALEKS," The leader of the Dalek forces ordered.

"We must convert her into one of us and make her into our new Cyber Planner. She will lead us to universal dominance and help us to make everyone like us," the Cyber Leader ordered.

"No, we will claim the Oracle for the glory of the Sontarans and use her to not only crush our enemies, the Rutans, but also to reach new levels of universal warfare. We will make the Sontarans into a force that even the Daleks will be afraid to challenge!" General Styx shouted.

"None of you will have her. She will be free to live the life that she chooses. I swear by my honor as a Grand Marshal that I will gladly die before I allow any of you to use her in any way," Skaldak said.

Enormous explosions now blanketed the entire area as massive chaos ensued. The Moment rushed right into the middle of all of this and quickly picked the still unconscious Doctor up. She teleported away with him as soon as she reached him and reappeared next to her friends who were all watching this with great concern nearby.

"Isn't there something that any of you can do to get Clara out of there?" Dave asked as he continued to hold a visibly shaken Merry.

"Skaldak keeps moving around too much or I already would have tried to teleport her out of there. I can't get a good lock on her," the Moment said.

"Can't any of you get her out by force?" Dave asked.

"I would be the first to try if I thought that I had any kind of chance. Believe me. I can't though. There are just too many of them. Don't you see the level of firepower that they're throwing around? No one could survive in that. Even if I somehow did manage to reach her, I'd never get her out of there alive," the Master said.

"So we're supposed to just stand here then and watch her die?" Tish said in disgust.

"Well, do you have any better ideas?" the Master asked in annoyance.

Tish was silent as the Master said, "I thought not."

"We have to do something though. We can't just leave it all to the Ice Warriors," Martha said.

"How do we know that we can even trust them though? Despite what they say, they might just want her for themselves," Mickey said suspiciously.

"No, the Ice Warriors have a strong sense of honor, Mickey. If they give their word, they have to keep it," the Moment said.

"How do you know that? That's not something Rose would know," Mickey asked.

"Oh, yes it is. Rose met the Ice Warriors once. It was during a group of mysterious attacks on a future Earth colony. The Ice Warriors had a colony of their own on another planet nearby, and they were being blamed for the attacks. It wasn't them though. It was another group of aliens who lived under the ground of that world and who wanted it back. The Ice Warriors actually helped the Doctor and me to save the humans from being wiped out by them. I actually made a friend of one of them as I remember," the Moment said with a fond smile.

Mickey didn't have the heart to tell her that she was speaking of herself as Rose. Neither did Martha who smiled at Mickey for not saying anything.

"I believe you then. I've heard how noble they are from UNIT's files on them anyway. It's not them that I'm worried about. It's the others especially the Daleks," Martha said with a shudder.

"Grandfather, is Clara going to die?" Merry asked Dave in an upset voice.

Dave didn't know what to say to her so he just said, "Of course not. She'll make it. I know that she will."

He wasn't surprised when Merry didn't believe him and started to cry. He didn't even believe what he had just said himself so why should he expect her to believe it?

That was when the sound of Merry's heart breaking woke the Doctor up. He realized instantly from the moment that he recognized Skaldak what must have happened and immediately started to think up a plan to save Clara.

"Doctor, please tell me that you have a plan," Martha said.

"Please. There's no way that he can do anything if I can't. You Earth girls always have way too much faith in him. Even the Doctor can't do the impossible," the Master said arrogantly.

The Doctor looked at the crying Merry in sadness as a look of renewed determination came over his face as he said, "Nothing's impossible. I learned that from Clara."

He raced towards the fighting aliens and shouted, "Hello, everyone. It's me, the Doctor. You finally have me where you want me now. I have no weapons and absolutely no way to escape from your far superior numbers. You're never going to have a better chance than this. Come and get me!"

All of the aliens all paused at once and stared at the Doctor as he said, "That's it. You want me don't you? You've all wanted to kill me for centuries, and here I am at last. I'm finally trapped with no way out. All you have to do is come and get me. Don't tell me that you're not more interested in killing me than you are in kidnapping Clara. We all know that's a lie."

"STICK TO THE OBJECTIVE!" the Dalek leader ordered.

"Well, you could do that. You could. Then I'd escape though. I'd get away in the TARDIS, and you'd miss out on a golden opportunity. Do you really want that to happen?" the Doctor asked.

"WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS?" One of the Daleks asked.

The Doctor decided to speak the truth as he said, "I want you to release Clara. Let her go and I'll give myself to you in exchange for her."

"YOU WOULD DIE IN ORDER FOR HER TO LIVE?" Another Dalek asked in surprise.

"Yes," the Doctor said without hesitation.

"HE LIES. HE HAS A PLAN. THE DOCTOR WOULD NEVER SACRIFICE HIMSELF THIS WAY," The Dalek leader said.

"Of course he would. He is highly emotional especially when it comes to his companions. The Cybermen have always known this," The Cyber Leader said.

"The Doctor has sacrificed his life for his companions before according to our records on him," General Styx said.

"THE DOCTOR ALSO LIES. ESPECIALLY THIS DOCTOR. THIS IS WELL KNOWN TO US," the Dalek leader argued.

"WHAT IF HE ISN'T THOUGH? WE COULD FINALLY BE RID OF THE DOCTOR," One of the Daleks said.

"Yes, that's it. Take me and let Clara go. I'm much more valuable to you than she is. How much easier will it be for all of you to conquer the universe once I' m gone?" the Doctor said.

The Daleks, Cybermen, and Sontarans all looked at one another in silence for one long almost interminable moment. The Doctor found himself holding his breath because he wasn't sure what was going through their minds in that moment. What would their next move be?

Then almost at the same time, they all switched from attacking the Ice Warriors to attacking the Doctor instead!

"Now, Skaldak! Take her and run!" the Doctor shouted as he was surrounded by enemies on all sides.

"He has to have more of a plan than this, right?" Tish asked in horror as the Doctor disappeared under a sea of some of his worst foes.

The Moment only smiled. She knew what was coming next.

Suddenly the Ice Warriors began to attack the others causing them to leave the Doctor alone in order to defend themselves. As the war between the invading armies started up all over again, Martha and Tish quickly ran over to the battered, beaten, and barely conscious Doctor and dragged him to safety.

"Definitely not one of my better plans," the Doctor muttered in a dazed state.

"You can say that again, you stupid man. You're just lucky that the Ice Warriors rescued you when they did," Tish said in an angry voice.

"I wasn't lucky. That was my plan," the Doctor said.

"Huh? How was that your plan? How could you know what the Ice Warriors were going to do?" Tish asked.

"No, they weren't my plan. Clara was the plan. I knew that she wouldn't let them just let me die," the Doctor said.

Suddenly several Daleks started exploding at once as the Ice Warriors moving almost as one ducked the attacks of both the Cybermen and the Sontarans at the exact right moment for their attacks to hit the Daleks who were behind them instead. Now during the surprise of this moment they swiftly hit the Cybermen and Sontarans from behind with their sonic disruptors.

Clara now emerged from the middle of the Ice Warriors, and it became clear to everyone that she was directing their attacks. The Doctor smiled as he realized that she was telling the Ice Warriors exactly what the others were going to do next right before they did it.

"How did you even know that she would be awake in time to save you?" Martha asked.

"I didn't for sure. I just had to hope that she would wake up around the same time that I did," the Doctor admitted with a shrug.

"You really are quite mad aren't you?" the Master said in disbelief.

"You should talk," the Doctor shot back.

With Clara's help, the Ice Warriors dealt several devastating blows to the other three armies. Even then, they still didn't have enough firepower to defeat them all completely. The Sontarans and the Cybermen eventually fell before them after a long, hard fight (except General Styx who escaped to report to his superior), but the Ice Warriors still couldn't overcome the superior strength and weaponry of the Daleks. Even knowing the future wasn't enough to stop them it seemed because they were now slowly picking the Ice Warriors off one at a time.

"Clara, you must leave now while you still can," Skaldak warned as he realized this.

"No, I won't give up on you. You've risked everything for me," Clara protested.

"TAKE HER NOW!" the Dalek leader ordered.

Clara had no idea who he was talking to since there were no Daleks around her. Then to her horror, she saw the thing that was claiming to be her mother suddenly appear out of nowhere and start moving towards her.

"Clara, go!" Skaldak ordered as he stood in-between her and the Dalek puppet.

"I must claim her for the Daleks," Ellie said in an emotionless voice as she shot Skaldak down with her gunstick.

The Doctor and the others immediately started to run towards Clara to help her, but they were soon cut off from her by several Daleks. There were simply too many of them for any of them to break through their lines. Even the Moment didn't have much success because as soon as she teleported behind the Dalek lines she was immediately cut down by their intense assault as it tore right through her force field.

As the others tried and failed to rescue Clara, Ellie was now face to face with her as she said in a hesitant voice, "You will come with me or I will . . . I - I will . . ."

Clara knew that she was fighting it and decided to appeal to whatever was making her hold back as she said, "Don't do this. Please. If there's any humanity left in you whoever you are, let me go. The woman whose face you're wearing would never want you to do this. She was so kind and loving. She would hate all of this. She hated all violence. She wanted me to help people and make a difference with my life. So that's what I did. At least I hope I have. I don't know if she'd be proud of me or not because I never did exactly do what I always told her that I would by traveling the world. I have always tried to help others though like she would have wanted me to do especially children. It was my way of staying close to her because she loved children just as much as I do. That was one very important thing that we had in common. I don't even know why I'm telling you this. I guess it's because I didn't want my last memories as a free person to be of someone with the face of my mother shooting me down. I don't want to remember her this way."

"You s - still refuse to submit to the will of the Daleks then?" Ellie said in a quivering voice.

"Yes. Yes, I do," Clara said as she faced Ellie without fear.

"I'm sorry," Ellie said as her gunstick began to glow while she pointed it at Clara.

Merry saw all of this and knew that it meant that she'd never see Clara again. She broke away from Dave and somehow raced past the Daleks as she screamed Clara's name over and over again.

Without hesitation, Clara turned her back on Ellie as she watched Merry run toward her in horror.

"Merry, get out of here!" Clara screamed.

Merry continued running though until she reached Clara. She stood in front of Clara protectively and stared at Ellie defiantly.

"No! Leave her alone! You leave my mum alone!" Merry screamed.

"Merry, go now!" Clara ordered.

"No, Mum. I won't leave you. We never leave anyone behind. That's what you taught me, isn't it? Well, I'm never leaving you behind. Ever," Merry said stubbornly.

Ellie started to shake with emotion as soon as Merry called Clara her mother. She began to rebel against her Dalek programming as she struggled to regain control over herself.

For the first time since this entire nightmare started, Clara smiled. She knew exactly what Ellie was going to do next.

Ellie screamed in anger and then turned her gunstick toward the Dalek leader and fired it on him. The leader exploded instantly in an enormous ball of flame as he let loose a final agonizing scream. Then Ellie continued to use the advantage of surprise to her benefit as she destroyed several more Daleks as quickly as she could and made a gap big enough to allow the Doctor and the others through to Clara at last.

Clara now watched with pride as Ellie helped the Ice Warriors fight back against the Daleks. She was finally starting to believe at last that maybe this really was her mother.

That thought both made her unbelievably happy and filled her with paralyzing fear at the exact same time. If this was her mother, would she still be the same? What exactly had the Daleks done to her? Would she even be recognizable as the same person anymore?

Now the Doctor, the Master, and the Moment joined Ellie and the Ice Warriors against the Daleks, and the tide finally began to turn at last. Soon without their leader, the Daleks' opposition to them immediately started to crumble.

Suddenly the voice of the Prime Minister of the Daleks called out to the remaining Daleks who were asking for orders as he said, "RETURN TO SKARO IMMEDIATELY. WE WILL TRY AGAIN LATER. THE ADVANTAGES OF SURPRISE AND EMOTIONAL WEAKNESS DUE TO FAMILIAL RELATIONSHIPS HAVE NOW BOTH BEEN LOST."

The Daleks soon retreated, and the battle was finally over with at last. For now.

Ellie now stared at Clara with a look of fear and hope on her face as neither woman spoke. They were both too terrified of the reaction of the other.

Merry finally solved this problem for them as she walked over to Ellie and said, "Are you my grandmother?"

After a moment of hesitation, Ellie said, "Yes, at least I think I am. I'm not sure of anything anymore. I was dying one minute and then woke up to find myself a prisoner of the Daleks the next while they did their best to brainwash me. I'm so glad that it didn't take."

The Doctor scanned Ellie with his sonic screwdriver and then said, "Well, you're definitely not an android. You're human with Dalek tech inside of you. Now that you've learned to override it, you should no longer have a problem with controlling it. I'll try to disable the Daleks' mental programming as much as I can in order to help."

"Am I really who I think I am though? Or am I someone else made to look like her and given false memories?" Ellie asked.

"I don't think that you are. Maybe I can't prove it, but I believe it in my heart," Clara said.

"How can we ever be sure?" Dave asked.

"I could use the TARDIS to check her DNA against Ellie's if I had any of it," the Doctor offered.

Clara opened a locket around her neck and pulled a piece of hair out of it. Before this, it had been all that she had left of her mother. Now she wasn't so sure about that anymore.

The Doctor took the hair and went back to the TARDIS in order to check Ellie the Dalek puppet's DNA against it. He promised to report back on what he found very shortly.

Skaldak, who Ellie hadn't killed, now said good bye to Clara as he said, "I really hope that she is your mother, Clara. I now see why you were able to understand my sense of loss over my daughter so well. It was because you felt it yourself. At least one of us should get someone that we love back."

"Thank you, Skaldak. Consider any debt that you ever thought that you owed me paid for in full now," Clara said.

Skaldak nodded as he said, "Let us part as friends then."

"Gladly," Clara said as she shook his hand.

Soon after the Ice Warriors left, the Doctor returned. His face showed no signs of any emotion whatsoever that would tip Clara off as to what he had found out.

"Well?" Clara asked impatiently.

"Well what?" the Doctor asked.

"What do you mean what, Chin Boy?! Tell me what you found out before I turn you into the universe's first Time Lord soufflé," Clara said in an upset voice.

The Doctor smiled as he said to Ellie, "Ellie, say hello to your granddaughter."

"You mean . . .?" Ellie asked with a huge smile.

"Yes, I do. It was an exact match. The Daleks must have dug you up not long after you were buried because you're still in excellent physical condition. Other than the fact that you're technically dead of course," the Doctor said.

"I guess that's why I don't have a heartbeat then," Ellie said.

"So she's like a zombie?" Dave asked in disbelief.

"Yes, except she's a lot nicer and doesn't want to eat brains. You don't do you?" the Doctor asked in an unsure voice.

"No. I don't want to eat anything which is another thing that's weird," Ellie said.

"Yes, well you wouldn't, would you? Your body doesn't work anything like it did anymore. The only reason it still functions at all is because of the Dalek technology currently animating it. It's going to take some getting used to I know, but it beats the alternative I think. Now you can get to see your granddaughter grow up," the Doctor said happily.

"I still can't quite believe it but I'm not about to question it," Dave said as he embraced his wife.

"Mum, I . . ." Clara said not sure of what to say as she had so much going through her head at that moment.

She finally settled on what she had wanted to say to her again for the longest time now.

"I love you," Clara said.

Ellie smiled as she said, "I love you too. Clara?"

"Yes?" Clara asked.

"I want you to know that I still hate violence despite what just happened," Ellie said.

Clara laughed and eagerly embraced her mother.

As she returned Clara's embrace, Ellie said, "And Clara? I am proud of you. I always have been and I always will be."

Clara started to cry while the Doctor's hearts filled with joy for her. If ever the impossible was going to happen like this for anyone, he was so glad that it was for Clara.

**Next: As both Ellie and Dave get used to all of the sweeping changes going on in their lives, Clara decides to spend some time with them and not to go traveling with the Doctor and the Master for a while. She should know that it won't be quite that easy though as she's still the most coveted prize in the universe and the race to get her is far from over. Who will appear next to try to wreck Clara's newfound happiness and what completely unexpected new ally will appear to help her?**


	10. A Not So Happy Reunion

CHAPTER 10

I do not own Doctor Who and I am not making any profit off of this.

**Thank you for your favorites, follows, and reviews! **

A NOT SO HAPPY REUNION

"Clara, are you sure about this? You know that there will be more people coming after you. You're going to be attacked sooner or later if you stay in any one place for too long," the Doctor said after Clara told him that she wanted to spend some time with her mother and father instead of traveling with him and the Master.

She had waited to tell her two oldest friends this after Martha, Mickey, and Tish went back home and while the Moment was playing video games with Merry in the next room so that she would have as few protests about it as possible. She knew that none of them would like her decision, and she didn't want to deal with all of them at once. None of them understood. She couldn't just leave now though especially after her mother had just been returned to her.

"This is insane, Alura. We just went through a massive battle to get you back, and now you want us just to leave you here all alone?" the Master asked in disbelief.

"I want to get to know her again and to make sure that she's alright after what the Daleks did to her. It won't be for that long. I just want a few days with her. Surely when everyone hears about what happened during that last fight, no one will want to come after me again anytime soon. That should at least buy me a few days of peace, shouldn't it?" Clara said.

"No, it won't. I'm sorry but you have to stay with us now. It isn't safe for you to stay on Earth anymore," the Master said.

"So I'm just supposed to stop being Clara? Is that it? Am I supposed to just give up my life on Earth and never see my parents or my friends ever again? No, I won't do it. I won't give up being Clara. I won't," Clara said obstinately.

"Clara, I hate to say it but the Master's right. You're not safe on Earth anymore. You'll just be attacked again. You have to give up your life here. I don't want you to, Clara. I want you to stay here if that's what you want. You know that. It's not going to be a choice anymore though. I'm sorry," the Doctor said as he put a comforting arm around her.

"No. I'm staying here and I'm going to spend some nice, normal days with my family," Clara said stubbornly.

"She's in denial," the Doctor said to the Master.

"Obviously. It's going to take another attack to open her eyes, and by then it'll be too late," the Master said ominously.

The Doctor nodded with a worried look on his face, and then he tried to smile at Clara warmly as he tried a new approach.

"How about the Master and I just stay here with you during that time? That would be alright, wouldn't it? We promise to stay out of the way as much as possible and just to be here ready to act in case something happens. How about that?" the Doctor asked hopefully.

Clara smiled as she said, "Alright. I'll compromise. You two can stay with me at my home and go with me when I visit my parents. Happy?"

"Not really. I'd only be happy if I had you safe with me in the Vortex where no one could find you, but this will do I guess," the Doctor said with all honesty.

Clara could see the worry on his face and in his eyes and was moved by it as she said, "It'll be okay. You'll see. No one will bother me for a while after the beating that the Daleks and the others just got. Thank you for worrying about me though, Chin Boy. I really appreciate it."

Then acting on the spur of the moment, she gave him a tender kiss on the lips. The Doctor looked at her in shock as she pulled away while smiling at him. Her smile covered up her own insecurities about what she had just done, but she had to do it. After everything that had just happened, she had finally been inspired to show the Doctor exactly how she really felt about him. Now all that she could do was wait and see how he reacted.

"Clara, I . . ." the Doctor said in a scared voice.

He wanted to tell her how he felt, but he was so afraid that he was misinterpreting her kiss. What if she didn't feel the same way?

"Oh, for the love of . . . ! He loves you, Alura! He's loved you since we were children!" the Master finally shouted in aggravation.

The Doctor glared at him and then looked at Clara in fear as he waited to see what her reaction would be. She began to smile with undisguised joy, and then she wrapped her arms around him and gave him a deep, passionate kiss that literally took his breath away.

"I love you too. I always have. I was just too afraid to tell you," Clara finally said as she pulled away from him.

"So was I," the Doctor admitted.

Then the two of them began to laugh as they held each other. They both started to kiss again as the Doctor initiated the kiss this time. It was obvious from the look of pure joy on Clara's face that she had never been happier in her life. The Master despite his feelings for her couldn't help but smile as he watched them together.

"I am so proud of you right now," the Moment said as she suddenly appeared next to the Master.

"I just want her to be happy. I realize that's all that matters now especially after almost losing her," the Master said with a shudder.

"I think that scared all of us," the Moment said.

"Unfortunately it didn't scare Alura enough," the Master said with a sigh filled with worry about her.

"Just let her enjoy herself as much as she can, Koschei. She's never going to be completely safe no matter where she is not even in the Vortex," the Moment said with a sigh.

"True but there's no need to be so reckless about her own safety," the Master said in annoyance.

Luckily for him, Clara was so absorbed in her kiss with the Doctor that she wasn't even paying attention to this conversation. If she had been, she would have definitely given him a piece of her mind. She would never give being Clara Oswald up. She would rather die first.

The next few days passed with no occurrences as Clara got to know her mother again at the same time as she deepened her relationship with the Doctor who she now openly called her boyfriend to her parents. Clara realized to her delight that despite everything that had happened to her mother that she was still the same as she had always been. The only difference between Ellie then and now was that she was now very anxious all of the time. She seemed to be constantly on edge about something, but she would never say what.

Finally Clara confronted her about this and Ellie said, "I think that the Doctor is right, Clara. You should leave. You need to go as far away from here as possible before the Daleks or someone else comes after you again. I keep looking for them to return at any minute now, and I'm so worried about you because of that. I want you to be safe."

"I don't want to leave you," Clara said stubbornly.

"It wouldn't be forever. You could always come back later. You do have a time machine after all," Ellie said.

Then she smiled and laughed as she said, "I can't believe this. It's just like some bizarre dream. I wake up after dying to find out that I'm some kind of zombie, my daughter's an alien, and she travels in a blue box through time and space."

Clara smiled at her as she said, "It does sound like some kind of joke doesn't it? I'm so glad that it's not though. I'm so happy that you're back and with me again. That's why I don't want to leave. I went for years without you, and I missed you every single day. Every single day my heart ached at least once a day if not more when I thought about you not being there anymore. I don't want to do that anymore now that I finally have you back again."

"Clara, if I understand things correctly, we're both going to live for centuries since you're an alien and I'm being kept alive by Dalek technology. I think we'll have plenty of time to see each other. Right now I need you to be safe," Ellie said.

"I'm not going just yet. I just need to make sure," Clara said.

"Make sure of what?" Ellie asked.

"I need to make sure that you're alright and that you're really here to stay. I don't want to leave and then come back to find out that you were only back for a little while, and I missed out on it. I don't want to take that chance," Clara said.

"Clara, I'm fine. I'm not going anywhere. I'll be right here when you get back," Ellie reassured her.

"I used to think that you weren't going anywhere before either but I was wrong," Clara said.

Ellie hugged her as she said, "I'm alright. I promise."

Clara shook her head and said, "I have to make sure."

Ellie finally realized now just how traumatized that Clara had been by her death. She realized that even now that she still hadn't fully gotten over it yet.

She understood that. She really did because of the terrible way in which she was taken away from her. She still didn't want that trauma to get her killed though.

Unfortunately, someone was coming who would soon make that fear into a reality.

Hours later when Clara, the Doctor, and the Master returned to her home for the night, an old man with white hair and a beard who looked somehow familiar to the Doctor suddenly appeared next to Clara out of nowhere taking her completely by surprise. Before Clara even had time to react, the old man injected her with some kind of needle which immediately made her start feeling like she had been drugged.

Clara had to fight to keep from automatically falling unconscious as the Doctor and the Master immediately rushed to help her. The old man caught Clara just before she almost fell over and pointed a gun at both Time Lords as he smirked at them.

"You're both already too late I'm afraid. The Oracle is mine now, and I will use her to finally right the wrong that was committed on Messaline. With the Oracle's help, I'll go back in time and rewrite history so that the humans completely eradicated the Hath as they should have instead of being taken down the wrong path by the Doctor. My people shouldn't have to share anything. My planet should have belonged to my species first and foremost," The old man practically ranted.

"General Cobb," the Doctor said as he finally remembered just who this man was.

"Who?" the Master asked.

"I met him centuries ago on a devastated planet where humans and the Hath were fighting over a terraforming device called the Source that could revitalize their world. I managed to convince them to stop the fight but at a terrible cost. I lost . . . Cobb killed my daughter while he was trying to shoot me. You already took Jenny from me, Cobb, but you won't take anyone else. Do you hear me? You won't take anyone else!" the Doctor said as he instantly flew into a cold rage at the huge wound that seeing Cobb had just opened up in his soul.

"So you're the Doctor? I've heard that your kind can change their appearance, but this is truly remarkable. It's so fitting that you're here today then to see my final triumph, Doctor. At last I'll fix the great wrong that you did to my people as I reclaim their rightful destiny for them, and there's nothing that you can do about it this time," Cobb said with a smirk on his face.

"Maybe not but I can," A muffled voice said behind the Doctor and the Master.

Both Time Lords tilted their heads slightly so that they could keep one eye on Cobb and one on this newest arrival.

Clara's newest uninvited guest was wearing armor from head to toe that completely hid their identity and even what species or gender that they were. They were also wearing two gauntlets that were currently glowing with energy that the Doctor's sonic screwdriver told him was a concentrated stun blast.

"You again! Must you continue to plague me until the end of time?!" Cobb said clearly recognizing the newest intruder.

The Doctor didn't recognize them at all, but yet there was something very familiar about them nonetheless. It was something that he couldn't quite put his finger on but it was there.

"Let her go, Cobb," The armored individual said in a commanding voice that the Doctor could clearly tell was female even if he couldn't make it out well enough to see if he could recognize it or not.

"She's mine to do with as I choose, and I choose to use her to undo all of the mistakes of my past including you," Cobb said in a voice filled with scorn.

"You're not doing anything. You've already done far too much already," the armored woman said as she shot twin stun blasts from her gauntlets at Cobb.

Cobb screamed in pain and then dropped to the floor unconscious. Just before he did though, he pointed his gun at Clara and pulled the trigger!

"No!" the Doctor and the Master both screamed at once.

To both Time Lords' surprise, nothing happened though. The gun never fired.

"I managed to create an actual state of temporal grace around me where guns won't work when I don't want them to. It's not a clever lie anymore," The woman in the armor said with a chuckle as she caught Clara before she fell over and joined Cobb on the floor.

"How did you know about that?" the Doctor asked.

He never even made a move to take Clara from the armored woman. Somehow he instinctively knew that he could trust her even if he didn't know why at the moment. Even the Master didn't seem to mind this strange woman being around Clara which was a first for him since the Master never trusted anyone.

"Oh, I know a lot about you, Doctor. I've been studying you for years now while I've been tracking you down with a Time Ring that I was lucky enough to find on the black market. Luckily for me the people selling it didn't know what they had, and I was able to quickly figure out how to use it to travel through time. I've been doing everything that I can to track you down all through time and space ever since then. I've come across dozens of your enemies and stolen not only their technology for my armor but also all of their data on you. I even met some of your friends and former companions and talked to them about you. I've done everything that I could to find you. I never came close though until I came across a girl named Clara. It turned out that she wasn't this Clara though. She was a copy of her. She never felt like a copy to me though. She was my best friend. Then she died one day saving you. You never noticed either of us at the time of course. You were too busy dying from something called Spectrox Toxaemia. I would have talked to you then, but I realized quickly that you weren't the right Doctor. You were from way before we first met although I did like that version of you a lot. He reminded me of myself in a way. Before my Clara died, I learned about your Clara from her however. It seems that my Clara found out about yours, who lived centuries before her, and had always wondered about what connection if any that she had with her. That was the first real lead to the proper you that I ever found so after the past you was safe and I buried my friend I went in search of this Clara. I'm so glad that I found her when I did too. I never want to see another Clara die in front of me ever again especially not this one," the armored woman said as she gently stroked Clara's hair with her gauntlet while Clara looked at her with a dazed expression on her face.

"I know exactly how you feel, but she's not just my friend. Not anymore," the Doctor said.

"I know. I read about the two of you together in those bits and pieces of historical records that you somehow didn't manage to erase about yourself. I know exactly how much that you love her, Dad," the armored woman said.

The Doctor's eyes widened as the gears started turning in his mind, and he finally put all of the pieces together at last. Now he knew exactly why this woman had seemed so familiar to him and why he trusted her!

"Jenny!" the Doctor said with joy as the woman confirmed what he already knew by removing her helmet and smiling at him.

"She's the one who's supposed to have died?" the Master realized.

"Yes, Cobb shot her and she never regenerated," the Doctor said.

"I'm honestly not sure what happened, but the Source brought me back to life I think while it was terraforming everything on Messaline. All I know is that I suddenly woke up fully healed and feeling wonderful. It's definitely not regeneration anyway because I didn't change my appearance. I'm glad too. I don't mean to sound vain, but I kind of like the way that I look," Jenny said with a grin.

The Doctor looked at her in disbelief at first, and then he rushed forward and hugged her tightly as Jenny laughed with joy. Clara meanwhile looked at Jenny in her drugged state with suspicion as she struggled to regain her senses.

"You . . . better not . . . be cheating on me already . . . Chinny," Clara said with slurred speech.

"Clara, are you okay?" the Doctor asked as he took her from Jenny and gave her a tender kiss while he helped to prop her up with the Master's help.

"I'll . . . be fine . . . as soon as I can . . . walk by myself," Clara said with a frown.

"It'll wear off soon, Clara. Cobb didn't want to harm you. He wanted you in perfect condition for his own purposes," Jenny said reassuringly.

"Who . . . are you?" Clara asked with a confused look on her face.

"I'm Jenny. Jenny Noble. I'm the Doctor's daughter," Jenny said as she smiled at her.

"You've . . . been holding out . . . on me, Mr. Chin. You never said . . . you had any kids," Clara said as she tried to smile at the Doctor.

"He thought I was dead. I've been trying to find him for years," Jenny said.

"I'm . . . sorry. I'm glad . . . you found him though," Clara said with the best smile that she could manage in her current state.

Then she looked at her closely as she said, "Do I . . . know you?"

"You might remember her from the memories of your echoes, Clara. She was friends with one of them," the Doctor said.

"Jennifer?" Clara said as she seemed to almost remember Jenny.

"Hopefully she'll remember you soon, Jen," the Doctor said as Jenny became excited at her recognition of her.

"Oh, before I forget. I have a surprise for you, Dad. I came across a place called Logopolis on my travels into the past and got them to use this science that they invented called Block Transfer Computations that uses numbers to manipulate reality in order to open up something called a CVE which is a hole between universes. When I did that, I finally found some people who were even more lost than I was that I heard broadcasting a call for help throughout the universe. You'll never believe who they were!" Jenny said with a huge smile on her face.

The Doctor looked at her in alarm and was about to question her when he heard the sound of several explosions coming from nearby. The explosions continued to grow louder and louder by the moment while several screams started to come from outside.

That was when the Moment suddenly appeared out of nowhere and said to Jenny, "What have you done?!"

She silently cursed herself even as she did so. Even with all of her power, she never foresaw this. If she had, she never would have gone with Merry to visit Tish while Clara was at her mother's house. She thought that she would be able to foresee any dangers against Clara well ahead of time, but she never saw this happening.

She should have known that bringing Jenny back to life like she did would cause her to become an unpredictable element within the Web of Time whose actions that she couldn't anticipate. She wasn't about thinking that at the time though. All she was thinking about was saving the poor girl's life in gratitude for what she did for the Doctor.

"What? What's wrong? I just brought them back because I thought that it would make Dad happy," Jenny said.

"Brought who back?" the Doctor asked even though he was afraid that he already knew.

"You didn't! Tell me she didn't!" the Master shouted at the Moment.

"She did. She somehow found the Time Lords and brought them back to this universe. Worse than that she led them straight to this spot! Rassilon knows where Clara is now," The Moment said with alarm.

"No! Not . . . now. I can't . . . walk," Clara said in a frightened voice.

"I don't understand what all the fuss is about. You were so lonely and missed your people so much, Dad. I just brought them back to you as a present to you. I thought that you'd be happy," Jenny said in an upset voice.

"She didn't do it on purpose. She didn't know," the Doctor said defending her.

"No, but she will soon if we don't get out of here," the Master said as he picked Clara up in his arms and rushed towards the TARDIS with her.

"What's going on?" Jenny asked in complete confusion as the explosions got even closer now.

Then before the Master could reach the TARDIS, a rip in time and space opened up in front of it and out came Rassilon and the High Council of the Time Lords. Rassilon smirked as soon as he saw the Master holding Clara.

"Lord Master and Lord Doctor! It's so good to see you both again. So very good! You, my dear, must be the Lady Alura that I've come so far to find. I require your services, my lady. I need you to help ensure that the Time Lords are the ultimate and undisputed rulers of this universe. There will be no more Time Wars with you on my side, Alura," Rassilon said.

"No. Leave . . . me alone," Clara said.

"You're mine now, Alura. There is no escape," Rassilon said.

"You'll have to go through me first," the Master said as he pointed his laser screwdriver at him.

"And me," the Doctor said as he stood next to the Master.

"You'll also have to go through me, Lord Rassilon. Remember me?" the Moment said as she began to glow with the power of the Vortex.

"Bad Wolf," Rassilon said like a curse.

"That's right. I made sure you were locked up in that Dark Tower once before, and I'll do it again," the Moment threatened.

"Not this time. This time I have all of Gallifrey on my side all working together toward a single purpose. We will claim the Oracle as ours and use her to erase the Daleks and anyone else who dares to oppose us completely from time and space forever. The Time War is finally over at last, and we are its victors," Rassilon said.

"That's what you think," Tish said as she suddenly burst into Clara's house.

As soon as she heard the explosions outside and saw the Time Lords marching through the city, she had finally remembered. She suddenly remembered everything including who she really was and what she had to do. That was when she had left Merry at her grandparents' house and raced to Clara's home as fast as possible.

Rassilon laughed as he said, "And who are you to try and stop me, human?"

"I am the rightful President of Gallifrey who you illegally deposed and tried to have killed in your little coup d'etat toward the end of the Time War, Rassilon, and I have come to reclaim what is rightfully mine," Tish said with fire in her eyes.

The Time Lords with Rassilon now looked at her with startled expressions on their faces as he said in disbelief, "It can't be you. I killed you."

"Oh, you tried but you didn't quite finish the job. I regenerated and then I hid myself from you by using the Chameleon Arch and made sure that I wouldn't remember who I was again until I could sense your presence. Now that I'm back, nothing's going to keep me from stopping you from leading the Time Lords into destruction again," Tish said.

"What's going on? Who is this?" Jenny asked in even more confusion.

The Doctor didn't answer her. Instead he pulled a silver fob watch out of one of his pockets and tossed it to Tish who smiled at him as she said, "Thank you, Doctor."

"No!" Rassilon shouted as he could finally detect the identity of the Time Lord in the watch.

"Oh, yes!" Tish said as she opened the watch and became bathed in light.

As soon as the light passed, she smiled in triumph while the High Council gasped in surprise and Rassilon cursed.

The newly transformed Tish said with a grin, "I am Lady President Romanadvoratrelundar. As one of the Earth's greatest writers might say, reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated. I never died and I certainly never left the Presidency to Rassilon as my last wish as he claimed which makes everything that he did afterwards completely illegal. It seems that your little plan has been stopped right here."

"On the contrary, my dear. It only means that you've come back just in time to die for real. Good bye, Lady President," Rassilon said as he pointed his gauntlet at Romana and it began to glow with power.

As Romana screamed in agony, Clara struggled to regain her strength. She had to stop this! She couldn't let what she saw happening in the next five minutes come to pass. She just couldn't.

She had to stop Rassilon now before he killed all of her friends and kidnapped her or she would be his prisoner forever!

**Next: It's the long awaited showdown between Clara and her friends and Rassilon. Will they be able to prevent the horrible future that Clara just foresaw from coming to pass or is Clara doomed to a life of eternal servitude at Rassilon's hands?**


	11. The Power of Alura

CHAPTER 11

I do not own Doctor Who or Star Wars and I am not making any profit off of this.

**Thank you for your favorites, follows, and reviews! **

THE POWER OF ALURA

"Let her . . . go," Clara said to Rassilon as she struggled to regain full control of herself in time to help save Romana.

"You can save her, Alura. You can save all of them. All you have to do is go with me of your own free will, and I'll spare them all," Rassilon said as he continued to torment Romana with his gauntlet.

"No, don't!" Romana shouted as she looked at Clara with pleading eyes.

Clara was feeling stronger now, and she realized that whatever Cobb gave her was beginning to wear off. She had to stall for time just a little bit longer until it did. Then she could finally unleash her true power.

"What about the Earth? Would you spare it too?" Clara asked.

"What do I care about the humans? I tolerated their presence before, and I can do so again. Is that what you want in exchange for your freedom, Alura? If I promise to leave the Earth and your cousin and friends alone, will you come with me then?" Rassilon asked as the Doctor shook his head no to her and the Master silently begged her with his eyes to stay with them.

Clara smiled as she could feel her strength returning and her mind clearing and said, "Possibly. What else can you put up on the table to offer me, Rassy?"

Rassilon' face became filled with anger as he shouted, "You will show me the proper respect! I am the founder of the Time Lords, and I will not be mocked especially by one who is about to become my future servant!"

"Am I, Sir Yells A Lot? Am I really?" Clara said with a smirk as she now felt almost normal once more.

The Doctor looked at her with a huge smile on his face as he knew that Clara was alright again. Despite being immensely worried about her in that moment, he was enjoying watching her taunt Rassilon so much at that moment. This was a prime example of just why he had always loved Clara so much.

Despite seeming to be normal most of the time, she was just as mad as he was.

"Enough, Lady Alura! I will only deal with your impertinence for so long! I will only ask one more time, and then I will take you with me by force. Come with me willingly, and I'll spare everyone's lives. If you continue to resist, then you will cause the complete and total destruction of everyone and everything that you hold dear!" Rassilon threatened.

Clara's face darkened and her eyes seemed to almost glow with power now as she said, "You were going to do that anyway though no matter what I did. You can't fool me, Rassilon. I see into your black hearts, and I know you for who you truly are. You still want to destroy everything and ascend to a higher level just as you did before. You need me to help you accomplish that, and you'll say and do anything to get me to go along with you."

The other Time Lords behind Rassilon backed away from Clara's penetrating gaze with undisguised fear now. It was as if she could see right through them as well and knew their every secret no matter how well hidden. It visibly unnerved all of them except for Rassilon.

"Enough. Now I will force you to come whether you want to or not," Rassilon said.

"Really? Why haven't you done it already then? Could it be because you're afraid of me? You really don't know what I can do after all. No one does," Clara said in a mocking tone as she realized now that she was completely back to normal at last.

"I'm not afraid of anyone," Rassilon protested.

"Oh, I think you are, Rantssilon, and you should be. Do you know why? It's because even I'm afraid of what I'll do when I finally use my full power for the first time," Clara said as she moved closer to him with an ominous look on her face.

"Clara?" the Doctor said in a worried voice.

Clara didn't look at him though. She continued to stare right through Rassilon like a predator eyeing its prey and began to smile an evil grin. Even Rassilon couldn't help but become just a little bit unnerved by her now and began to back away from her.

The Doctor watched her in horror as she seemed to change into someone else right in front of him. This wasn't his kind, loving Clara anymore. This was someone who was her complete opposite, and she scared him more than Rassilon did in that moment.

He didn't want to lose Clara again. He had already lost her far too much for one lifetime.

Rassilon now stopped attacking Romana and let her fall to the floor with a thud as she lay there in a nearly unconscious state. He pointed his gauntlet at Clara now instead but didn't attempt to use it on her just yet.

The Master meanwhile immediately went to Romana's side and moved her out of the way as he looked at her with worry on his face. If Clara wasn't acting so strange at that moment, the Doctor would have questioned that look. He could care less about it at the time though. All that mattered to him was Clara.

"What's wrong with her? She's not acting anything like my Clara," Jenny asked with the same fear in her voice that the Doctor was now feeling in his hearts.

"I don't know, Jen. I think she'll be alright though. She has to be alright. I mean Clara's not really evil. I know she's not," the Doctor said as he did his best to comfort his daughter.

The Moment put a comforting arm around both father and daughter but said nothing. She knew that she couldn't say anything or she might influence what happened next. She could feel that they were now reaching a major turning point here. Clara's entire future and maybe the future of everyone else was about to be decided by what she did here in the next few minutes.

"Let me give you a choice now, Lord Rassilon. Either abdicate and give the Presidency back to Romana or I'll just have to see how powerful that I really am and use you as my first test subject," Clara said in a cold emotionless voice.

"Clara, don't," the Doctor said in a terrified voice as his hearts broke while watching her.

Rassilon now shook in fear and he said in a quivering voice, "Stay back. You won't stop me now. Not when I'm so close to total victory. I'll destroy you first!"

"Do it then, Rassy. Go ahead and do it if you can," Clara said with mocking laughter.

That was when Rassilon started to use his gauntlet on her only to find that he couldn't. Every time he started to he suddenly stopped. It was just as if . . . someone was controlling his mind.

"What have you done to me?" Rassilon asked in full terror now.

"Why, I don't know what you mean, Rassy. Care to explain?" Clara asked as she laughed at him again with a smirk on her face.

"You've gotten into my mind somehow. You're controlling it," Rassilon accused her.

"Am I? I don't have mind control abilities though. Or do I? You don't know though, do you?" Clara asked with a huge malevolent grin.

Rassilon began to whimper in fear as he tried to use the gauntlet over and over again and something stopped him from doing it each and every time. The other Time Lords now began to run from Clara as she advanced toward Rassilon with a cold stare.

"No! Leave me alone!" Rassilon pleaded.

Clara laughed at him as she placed her hand on his forehead even as she ripped the gauntlet off of his hand and tossed it across the room. The Doctor's hearts were racing so fast now that he was afraid that he was about to die and if Clara did anything to Rassilon in the next minute he just might.

"Sleep," Clara said as her face returned back to normal and her eyes filled with kindness once more.

Rassilon immediately fell to the ground unconscious, and Clara turned toward the other Time Lords who were fleeing back into the tear that had been opened up with a sorrowful expression on her face. The Doctor could see that his Clara was back again now as she looked at them leave with sadness.

The tear now sealed behind them as the Time Lords fled leaving Rassilon lying there all alone on the floor.

"Jenny, go put Rassilon and Cobb in the cupboard," the Doctor said.

Jenny looked at him in surprise as she said with a smile, "Well, I guess that's one place to keep them. Too bad we can't just leave them there, huh?"

The Doctor smiled back at his daughter as he kissed her forehead and said, "It's pretty tempting but no. I don't think Clara wants them stuck in her cupboard forever. She probably has much better uses for it like for storing nice shiny new fezzes."

Jenny immediately tied Rassilon and Cobb up while she still could and put him and the still unconscious Cobb in a nearby cupboard. A fond memory of Rory doing much the same thing once sprang to the Doctor's mind which both made him smile and feel incredibly sad at the exact same time.

"Clara, are you alright?" the Doctor asked as he finally approached her now that the danger seemed to have passed.

"What. Was. That?" the Master asked her in concern.

"I wasn't really going to hurt anyone unless I had to. I was just bluffing and they all fell for it because none of them could read my mind. Not even you two knew what I was going to do, and that's just the way that I wanted it," Clara said as she shook with emotion.

"So that was all just acting?!" the Doctor asked in disbelief.

"Yes, Chin Boy. Despite what you might think, I'm not a homicidal psychopath. Not yet anyway. After a few more years of traveling with you two boys though, who knows what might become of me?" Clara said as she gave him a warm smile.

"Are you sure that you're okay, Clara?" Jenny asked with concern.

Clara wrapped her arms around her and kissed her cheek as she said, "I'm fine, Jennifer. Really. I remember you now by the way. My echo was so sorry that she had to die and leave you alone again after you had already been by yourself for so long before you met her. She really didn't want to do that, Jenny. She loved you so much."

Jenny struggled to hold back her tears as she said, "Thank you for telling me that. I loved her too just like I know that I'll love you."

"I already love you, Jen. You're so sweet how could I not love you?" Clara reassured her as she gave her a quick hug.

"Where did all of that malevolence come from though? I mean where did you ever learn how to do all of that? Those grand sweeping gestures, that vicious look in your eyes, and that chilling voice! That was really impressive. It was . . . wonderful," the Master said in a voice that told Clara that he had liked her that way.

Clara shuddered inwardly at that thought as she said, "I learned it all from watching you two when you're going all Dark Side on everyone. I thought I did a pretty good impression of both of you especially you, Mr. Oncoming Storm."

"I don't look that scary when I get angry, do I?" the Doctor asked in disbelief.

"Yes, definitely," Jenny said remembering how he had acted when he tried to reject her back on Messaline.

"Oh, yes you do, Doctor. It was lucky for me that you didn't do it that often in the incarnation that I traveled with because it was very unnerving at times," Romana said as she got up off the floor.

"Are you alright?" the Master asked her with concern.

"I'm fine. At least I am physically. Mentally though . . ." Romana said before trailing off without finishing her sentence.

"You don't know whether you're Romana or Tish anymore do you?" Clara asked in a sympathetic voice.

At the mention of the name Tish, the Master immediately became visibly guilty and looked away from all of them. Romana didn't look too happy herself as she refused to look at him.

"I feel like both of them and neither of them at the same time. It's like I'm some weird mixture of them now. How did you ever deal with this?" Romana asked Clara.

"I picked Clara and stuck with her. I like her better than Alura," Clara said with no hesitation whatsoever.

"What was so wrong with Alura?" the Doctor said as he finally asked a question that both he and the Master had been dying to know from the start.

"There was nothing wrong with her per se. It was just that she never really did anything. She was too afraid of everything to actually allow herself to live, Doctor. She was too afraid to even tell you that she loved you. I like Clara better. Clara just says what she thinks and tells it like it is. She also lets you have it when you're out of line. I'm really starting to lose it alright hanging around you so much, Chinny. I'm talking about myself in the third person now," Clara said with a grimace.

"As long as you don't become the female version of the Master again, I don't care how crazy you act. In fact, I kind of like it when you act a bit mad," the Doctor said with a grin.

"You would," the Master said with a snort.

"Come to think of it my Clara was a bit mad too. I guess she must have gotten that from you," Jenny said as she teased Clara.

"Oh, hush up, Chin Girl," Clara said.

"Chin Girl? I don't have a huge chin!" Jenny protested.

"No, but you come from him so that makes you Chin Girl in my book," Clara said as she teased her new friend back.

"Shut up," Jenny said as she smiled at her and felt better than she had in a long time now that she had Clara back in her life (sort of anyway) once again.

"Maybe you're right, Clara. I should stay with Tish. I actually liked being her which was why I was resisting the urge to open the watch so much. I also love my family and they won't know how to react if I'm suddenly calling myself Romana. Poor Martha's already scared enough about my changing as it is thanks to a certain person turning completely psychotic when they opened their watch," the newly renamed Tish said as she glared at the Master.

"Why would you care how they react? I don't understand you and Alura and your need to keep a human identity anyway. Why do you want to be human when they're all so inferior to us?" the Master said.

"Yes, you showed how you felt about humans by the way that you treated my parents!" Tish shouted with a furious look on her face which immediately silenced him.

The Doctor noticed with surprise that he actually looked ashamed. He wondered why the Master would suddenly care about what he did to the Joneses just because Romana said something about it. Normally the Master showed no form of remorse whatsoever for any of his victims. What was so different about this time?

"So you really controlled his mind? Or was that just Rassilon convincing himself of that through your clever bit of mental suggestion?" Tish asked Clara with a grin as she tried to change the subject.

"No, that was really her. She was showing a power that she's never displayed before. Probably because she's been too afraid to try it because of the possible consequences," the Moment said as she finally spoke after remaining silent for so long.

"What are you talking about? What consequences?" the Doctor asked as both he and the Master looked at Clara with concern.

"It's nothing. Nothing happened, Doctor. I'm fine," Clara said dismissively.

"Yes, this time you are. I wouldn't recommend ever using that particular power again though, Clara," the Moment said.

"Don't worry. After that experience, I won't," Clara said as she tried not to show the fear that she was feeling just thinking about what almost happened.

"Clara?" the Doctor asked in a questioning voice as he stared at her intently.

"Alright, fine! I can control people's minds but for some reason when I tried it just now my personality almost became just like Rassilon's. I had to fight to regain my own identity," Clara admitted.

"I knew it. I knew you weren't being honest. We became too close for you to fool me," Jenny said as she became worried about Clara all over again.

"You lied! You said it was all just an act," the Doctor said in an upset voice.

"I didn't want to upset you. I really am okay now though, and I'll never do it again. So there's nothing to worry about, okay?" Clara insisted.

"I warned you not to do it the first time. I told you there was a chance that by linking your mind with someone else's in order to control them that some of their personality might bleed over into yours. You're just luck y that it was only temporary," the Moment said as she chastised her.

"Alright, alright. Enough already, 'Mum'!" Clara said sarcastically.

"You need to listen to her," Jenny said which made Clara put her arm around her and smile reassuringly at her.

Jenny sighed still not convinced that she was getting the message.

"I'm just trying to look out for you. I'm trying to make sure that certain timelines don't come into existence that shouldn't," the Moment said as she looked away from Clara.

"What are you talking about?" Clara asked suddenly afraid of her answer.

The Moment hesitated before saying, "I didn't want to say this before, but I'm not just here to protect you, Clara. I'm also here . . . to protect the universe from you."

"What? Are you saying that Clara could become a threat to the universe?" the Doctor asked in a disbelieving voice.

"If she stays just as she is right now, no. The Bad Wolf saw certain timelines though where Clara might become corrupted by using her powers and then . . . well, let's just say that it wasn't pretty and leave it at that," the Moment said.

Clara became very frightened now as she said in a shaky voice, "I definitely won't use my powers anymore then."

Jenny immediately took her hand in hers in a silent gesture of support. Clara smiled gratefully at her for a brief moment as she started to realize just how good a friend that Jenny was to the people that she cared for.

"It's okay, Clara. I won't let that happen to you. I promise," the Doctor said as he put his arms around her.

"No, I promise, Doctor. I'm not using my powers again on purpose no matter what. I don't ever want what almost happened to me to become permanent. I've never been more scared in my life," Clara finally admitted to him.

Clara never ceased to amaze him with how good that she was at keeping her emotions from him. He wished that she would stop that and let him in more. She should know by now that he would never hurt her so there was no cause to keep him shut out like that.

Clara sensed his thoughts and immediately said, "I'm sorry. I'll do better. It's hard to undo a lifetime's worth of habits though."

"Don't feel bad, Dad. I was friends with the other Clara for years, and she never completely opened up to me either. I think it's just the way that she is," Jenny said.

"I'll try to work on being more open to both of you then, okay sweetie?" Clara said as she kissed Jenny's forehead.

The Doctor smiled at Clara just before the two of them kissed while Jenny watched them with a pleased look on her face in the background. She couldn't think of a better person for her father to wind up with, and she definitely approved of them being together. It was going to be pretty strange to think of her as her mother though if they got married. She was more like her bossy overbearing older sister than anything else she thought to herself with a grin.

The Master meanwhile started to worry about Clara as he knew that she would keep being tempted to use her powers if other people like Rassilon and Cobb continued to come after her. He made a decision right then and there.

"Clara, you're going to travel with us from now on, and I don't want to hear any more excuses. You can't stay here on Earth anymore no matter how much you want to. I'm sorry but that's the way that it has to be," the Master said.

"Okay," Clara said without trying to fight him.

"Okay?" the Master said surprised at her lack of an argument.

"I'll go with you and stay away from Earth as much as possible until hopefully this all blows over. I'm only doing this because I already decided to do it in order to keep the Earth from being attacked anymore though and not because you ordered me to do it. Got it? In fact, if you ever try to order me about like that again, I'll just have to introduce you to the back of my hand. Got it?" Clara said with an unsettling smile on her face.

The Master half smiled and half shook with fear as he said, "I'm sorry. I would never try to order you about normally, Clara. I'm just worried about you."

"I know and that plus the fact that you're one of my boys is the reason that I haven't already laid you out cold on the floor by now," Clara said with a much warmer smile now.

"You're one of her boys?" Tish asked the Master with an amused look on her face.

"She just means that I'm one of her two best friends from the old days," the Master said as his face turned red.

"It sounds more like she meant that she gives you the marching orders instead of the other way around," Tish said with a playful smile.

"That's exactly what it means, Tish," Clara said as the Master turned even redder with embarrassment.

"Well, well. The mighty Master reduced to being ordered about. I never thought I'd see the day, but I do love it though now that I have," Tish said as she laughed.

"What do we do with Rassilon and Cobb?" Jenny asked.

"I'll have to put Rassilon under the Chameleon Arch because he's too dangerous to leave as he is, and then I'll give him and Cobb to UNIT. They'll know what to do with them. Or maybe I'll give him to Jack. I haven't seen him in ages," the Doctor mused.

"Jack? Who's Jack?" Jenny asked.

The Doctor suddenly turned pale as thoughts of Jack hitting on Jenny passed through his mind as he said, "He's no one. He's no one that you should know about anyway. I'll just go see Jack some other time. By myself."

The Moment started laughing her head off in the background while Jenny continued to look confused.

"I get the feeling that you dad just made his first attempt at keeping you away from boys," Clara said with a chuckle.

"Oh, is he cute?" Jenny asked with an interested expression.

"Oh, he's much more than cute, and he'll hit on anything that moves. He never hit on me though after we got to know one another. We were more like siblings. I mean he and Rose were," the Moment said as she winced at the mental gaff.

"It's okay to think of yourself as Rose," Clara said reassuringly.

"No, it's not because I'm not really her. I'm really going to have to stop doing that somehow," the Moment insisted.

"Right then. We'll take both our prisoners to Kate at UNIT. Good old UNIT where no one flirts with you from the moment that you arrive there. Not usually anyway. That sounds much better doesn't it?" the Doctor said nervously as he started toward the cupboard.

"Not to me it doesn't. Now I really want to meet this Jack. Maybe he and I were meant to be together," Jenny said teasing him.

"No, absolutely not! In my first official act as your father, I forbid it," the Doctor said flustered as Clara and the Moment laughed at him.

"Hmm. What's his last name?" Jenny asked the Moment curiously.

"Harkness," the Moment replied with a mischievous smile while the Doctor glared at her.

"I like it. Mrs. Jenny Harkness," Jenny said as her father started to gasp for air like a fish in the background.

"Just . . . shut up," the Doctor said as he started to turn red with embarrassment now.

All three women started laughing at him now and so did Tish who thought that the whole thing was amusing. She really loved being back with the Doctor and this new family of his that he had established. She was so glad that Clara, who was now her cousin and her best friend at the same time, was the one that the Doctor had chosen to be with.

The Doctor chose to ignore them as he continued towards the cupboard now. He soon opened the door and hissed in anger at what he found there.

"What is it?" Clara asked in alarm.

"Cobb's gone. He must have had some kind of teleportation device on him that I didn't find," the Doctor said as he mentally kicked himself.

"We should leave as quickly as possible then because he never gives up once he sets his mind on something. Believe me on that," Jenny said.

"That's great. So I've still got Cobb and who knows who else hunting me down while the Time Lords are officially back and liable to pop up again to bother me at any time. This just keeps getting better and better," Clara said with a sigh.

"We need to take Rassilon to UNIT, collect Merry, and say our good byes now while we still can, Clara. I'm afraid that from now on that your life on Earth has come to an end. It might not be that way forever though," the Doctor said with an encouraging look on his face.

"Yes, hopefully not," Clara said sadly.

"I'm sorry," the Doctor said as he gave her a tender kiss.

"So am I. I never meant to do this to you. I honestly didn't know," Jenny apologized.

"I know, sweetie. It's alright. There was no way for you to have known," Clara said.

"It's time to go now I'm afraid. What about you, Romana? Are you going with us?" the Doctor asked Tish.

Tish hesitated as she briefly looked between Clara and the Master. Then she shook her head no.

"No, I want to stay here and explain things to Martha and the rest of my family. I also don't want to be taken away from home for who knows how long either," Tish said.

"Yeah, that could definitely happen believe me, and then your family will think that you're dead. You don't want to go through all of that grief," the Moment said.

"Oh, give it a rest," the Doctor said with a moan.

"Twelve months, Doctor," the Moment said.

The Doctor groaned and sighed as he took Rassilon into the TARDIS to use the Arch on him.

"Twelve months? Really?" Tish asked.

"Yep," the Moment said.

"I'm surprised that it wasn't twelve years knowing the Doctor. I bet he did that to a companion before too," Tish said.

"I certainly wouldn't put it past him. He really has no idea how to pilot that TARDIS whatsoever," Clara said.

"I know. I once got onto him about it, and he actually tore a page out of the manual because he disagreed with what it said. Can you believe that?" Tish said.

"With his driving? Yes, I definitely can. I bet he never read more than a few pages of the manual in his life," Clara said.

"Do you remember his driving test?" the Master said as he started to laugh.

"Oh, yeah! I've never seen so many people run so fast in their lives!" Clara said as she burst out laughing.

"Oh, I want to hear. Tell me what happened," Jenny said eagerly.

As the others all started to talk about it, the Doctor smiled at them from the doorway to the TARDIS. Even if they were mercilessly making fun of his obviously superior driving skills, he still was enjoying every moment of having them all around.

He loved having a family (and whatever the Master was to him) again.

**Next: Clara says her good byes and leaves for a new life of traveling through time and space full-time with the Doctor, the Master, and Jenny. Where will she end up on her first trip and who or what will she run across there? It seems that an old enemy of the Doctor's isn't as dead as he thought after all. Tish meanwhile decides to stay on Earth and tell her family the truth about herself when she's interrupted by the return of the Time Lords. What do they want now and how might it affect Tish forever?**


End file.
